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PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRARY 


OF 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICSL  SEMINARY 


BY 


MPS.  Alejiandet*  Ppoadfit. 

BR  45  .H8A  1878 
Carpenter,  William  Boyd, 

1841-1918 
The  witness  of  the  heart  t 

Christ 


THE 


Witness  of  the  Heart  to  Christ. 


BEING    THE 


HULSEAN    LECTURES 


PREACHED  BEFORE  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CAMBRIDGE  IN  THE 
YEAR   1878. 


BY   T^E 

/ 

Rev.  W.  BOYD   CARPENTER,    MA., 

Vicar  0/  Christ  Church,  Lancaster  Gate^  and  Hon.  Chaplain  to  the  Queen. 


New  York: 
anson  d.  f.  randolph  &  company 

900    BROADWAY,    COR.    20th    STREET. 


To  Her 

WHOSE    LOVE    FOR   TWELVE    SHORT   YEARS 

MADE    LABOUR    LIGHT 

t    DEDICATE    THIS    LABOUR 

0¥    MY    DARKER    DAYS. 


a  2, 


PEEFACE. 

These  Lectures  are  only  indirectly  apologetic: 
they  necessarily  take  much  for  granted  :  they 
have  one  simple  aim :  they  are  intended  to 
illustrate  the  adaptation  of  the  Gospel  to  the 
needs  of  man.  Man  is  the  problem :  Chris- 
tianity is  the  solution.  Tested  in  every  age 
and  by  every  race,  the  Gospel  has  proved  itself 
fitted  to  man,  and  possessed  of  power  to  win 
the  wandering  affections,  to  satisfy  the  uneasy 
conscience,  to  establish  the  wavering  will,  to 
form  the  character,  to  kindle  new  hope,  and 
to  inspire  with  nobler  aims  the  chance-led  or 
passion- driven  life.  Of  all  those  who  have 
appealed  to  man,  Christ  alone  has  uttered  the 
magic  words  before  which  the  sin-closed  door 
of  the  human  heart  has  rolled  open.  If  this 
be  true,  the  truth  supplies  an  argument.  We 
may  not  be  accomplished  scholars,  erudite  critics, 


6  PREFACE. 


or  subtle  thinkers ;  but  we  are  men ;  we  know 
what  we  need ;  we  know  the  force  of  tempestuous 
passions,  the  bitter  reproaches  of  a  burdened 
conscience,  the  painful  failings  of  a  vacillating 
will ;  we  know  sin,  and  sorrow,  love  and  death ; 
and  we  find  in  Christ  a  remedy  for  these,  we  find 
that  the  medicine  suits  the  disease ;  the  key  fits 
the  lock.  No  other  key  fits  all  the  wards. 
Why  should  we  refuse  the  use  of  the  one  which 
does  on  the  chance  that  the  facts  of  nineteen 
centuries  may  be  mistaken?  Why  should  we 
refuse  the  aid  of  Jesus  Christy  when  He  can 
allay  life's  fever  and  restore  life's  hope,  and 
when  there  is  none  else  who  has  ever  given  to 
men  such  words  of  everlasting  life  ? 


Advent,   1S79. 


CONTENTS. 


LECT. 

I.    THE   WITNESS    OF   THE   WORLD 


I'AGK 

9 


2.  THE    WITNESS    OF    CONSCIENCE  .  .  6o 

3.  THE    WITNESS    OF    LOVE  ...  96 

4.  THE    WITNESS    OF    HOPE  .  .  .       I42 


LECTURE    I. 


''The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke  xvii.  21. 

There  is  a  striking*  contrast  between  the  lan- 
guage of  early  Christian  hope  and  the  sad  utter- 
ances which  we  sometimes  hear  around  us  to-day. 
To  the  earlier  believers  Christianity  was  a  power 
and  Christ  a  real  King.  The  Gospel  was  the 
power  of  God,  and  Christ  the  destined  Prince 
of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  But  now,  we  hear 
another  tone.  Christianity  is  prostrate  ^.  The 
fascination  which  lingered  round  the  land  of 
promise  is  dispelled  ;  Canaan  is  its  name  ;  it  is 
a  Holy  Land  no  more.  At  Bethlehem^  too, 
the  angel  voices  no  longer  sing  of  peace  and 
good-will;  the  freshness  has  vanished  from 
Nazareth  ;  Olivet  has  lost  its  charm  ;  and  even 
Calvary  is  disenchanted.     As  w^e  listen  to  the 

^  "Not  only  are  Lourdes  and  Paray  le  Monial  contemptible, 
but  Calvary  is  disenchanted.  There  may  have  been  a  death 
there,  but  there  never  was  a  sacrifice.  Scales  have  fallen 
from  our  eyes.  We  see  it  all  clearly.  The  creed  we  were 
brought  up  in  is  an  earthly  myth  ;  not  a  heavenly  revelation." 
—  Contemporary  i?criei(;,  vol.  xxxi.  p.  710,  "Future  of  Faith," 
by  W.  H.  Mallock. 

B 


10  LECTURE    I. 


sad  voices  wHcli  proclaim  a  heart's  disappoint- 
ment^ we  catch  the  echo  of  yet  earlier  language, 
as  two  discoursed  mournfully  of  a  dead  Christ : 
"  We  trusted  that  it  had  been  He  which  should 
have  redeemed  Israel."  This  tone  of  despondency 
is  in  sad  contrast  with  the  visions  of  Christianity. 
Then  they  saw  Him  in  vision  going  forth  clad 
in  the  apparel  of  triumph,  conquering  and  that 
He  might  conquer :  now  we  are  told  that  the 
sceptre  has  fallen  from  His  hand.  Then  the 
eyes  of  hope  and  faith  were  fixed  upon  Him, 
who  was  alive  for  evermore  :  now  we  seem  to 
hang  tearfully  over  the  body  of  a  dead  Christ. 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  change  from  hope 
to  sadness  ?  Has  age  brought  upon  the  world 
its  inevitable  hopelessness,  when  the  wearied 
and  over-strained  energies  can  no  longer  take 
an  interest  in  the  schemes  of  youth,  and  when 
regretful  memory  is  stronger  than  hope  ?  Has 
Christianity  lost  her  power  ?  But  in  truth  this 
is  not  the  way  the  question  should  be  asked. 
It  rather  should  be — What  is  the  cause  of  this 
change  from  the  spirit  of  hopefulness  to  that 
of  despair?  Is  it  in  the  enfeebled  power  of 
Christianity  or  in  an  enfeeblement  of  our  moral 
tone?  Is  it  that  the  Christian  religion  that 
once  broke  like  a  stream  from  its  fountain,  and 
poured  forth  its  full  and  refreshing  floods  upon 


LECTURE    I.  11 


the  parched  world,  has  spent  its  energy,  or  that 
we  have  neglected  to  dig  fresh  channels  for  its 
generous  waters  ?  Is  it  that  the  fatigue  of  life 
has  robbed  us  of  the  power  of  hope,  or  that 
time  has  deprived  Christianity  of  her  force  ? 
Is  the  change  in  our  dimmed  eyesight  which 
can  no  longer  see  the  charm  of  the  landseaj)e, 
or  has  the  land  of  promise  itself  lost  its  loveli- 
ness? Is  it  enfeebled  faith  in  us,  or  en- 
feebled force  in  Christianity,  which  occasions 
this  depression?  Has  Christ  grown  old,  or 
have  we  ? 

Perchance  the  change  is  in  ourselves ;  and 
that  there  is  a  strangely  weakened  moral  tone 
in  many  quarters,  who  will  deny?  Are  there 
not  to  be  found  among  us  dispositions  and 
tendencies  which  enervate  all  religious  force  ? 
Are  we  not  confronted  with  the  spirits  of  moral 
cowardice,,  of  theological  puerility,  of  religious 
dilettanteism,  and  of  wide-spread  self-conscious- 
ness ? 

I  venture  to  believe  that  the  change  is  in 
ourselves,  and  not  in  Him  whose  years  are  for 
ever  and  ever.  I  venture  to  believe  that  the 
earlier  hope  was  the  truer,  and  that  the  vision 
of  the  conquering  Christ  may  yet  again  rush 
back  with  its  fulness  and  splendour  upon  the 
opened  eyes  of  human-kind.  I  venture  to  be- 
B  2 


12  LECTURE    I. 


lieve  that  if  instead  of  mournfully  discussing 
theories,  we  would  but  turn  our  glance  to  One 
who  walks  among  us,  but  whom  we  know  not, 
our  now  holden  eyes  would  find  in  Him,  whose 
words  even  now  make  our  hearts  burn  within 
us,  the  Christ  whom  we  have  spoken  of  as  dead, 
but  who  is  still  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  we  observe  that  there 
is  a  weakened  moral  tone  abroad,  if  on  the 
other  we  can,  on  a  survey  of  the  work  and 
kingdom  of  Christ,  find  that  there  is  no  reason 
for  supposing  that  it  has  lost  its  adaptation  to 
the  great  needs  of  mankind,  we  shall  be  led  to 
look  for  the  cause  of  much  of  this  despondent 
tone  in  ourselves  rather  than  in  Him  who  is 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

Let  us  confess  that  there  has  been  much  fault 
in  ourselves,  that  the  very  interest  which  we 
take  in  religion  has  often  blinded  our  eyes  to 
Him  who  is  its  life ;  that  both  in  the  Church 
and  in  the  world,  a  lack  of  moral  earnestness 
has  been  the  strange,  but  not  unnatural  out- 
come of  the  (shall  I  say)  critical  power  in  which 
we  pride  ourselves.  There  is  a  robust  criticism 
which  can  only  bring  strength  because  it  is 
earnest  for  truth — truth  above  all,  and  truth 
tven  at  the  sacrifice  of  our  proudest  hopes  ;  but 
there  is  a  spirit  also  which  is  the  very  reverse 


LECTUEE    I.  13 


of  this,  which  is  so  self-complacently  critical 
tlmt  truth  is  veiled  from  its  eyes.  In  the 
Church  it  is  seen  in  the  eagerness  for  trifles  ; 
the  elevation  of  matters  of  infinitesimal  insig- 
nificance into  the  dignity  of  principles  ;  we  are 
like  men  discussing  the  robe  of  our  Master 
instead  of  looking  into  His  face  and  following 
His  lead.  We  are  earnest  enough  over  things 
about  religion,  but  in  our  eao-erness  we  forg-et 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  faith.  In  our 
criticism  of  the  mechanism  we  have  forgotten 
the  work  of  the  machine.  Nothing  is  so  fatal 
to  moral  earnestness  and  true  spiritual  life  as 
the  spirit  of  superficial  criticism  in  religion. 
Every  beardless  boy  may  criticise  a  faith  which 
he  has  never  understood.  Every  untrained 
laj^man  may  descant  upon  the  imperfections  of 
the  Biblcj  which  it  is  not  uncharitable  to  say 
he  has  never  read  ;  it  is  just  now  the  rage  to 
discuss  religious  matters ;  it  is  little  more,  in 
many  cases,  than  a  rage ;  as  transient  as  a 
fasliionable  colour,  and  in  many  cases  as  un- 
intelligent. We  are  religious  talkers,  just  as  we 
are  ardent  astronomers  for  the  week  that  the 
British  Association  visits  our  neighbourhood,  or 
eager  antiquarians  during  the  brief  season  of  an 
archaeological  excursion,  in  which  the  picnic  i>; 
more  than  the   ancient    camp    or    tlie   barrow. 


14  LECTURE    I. 


There  are  earnest  men,  sincere  believers,  and 
heart-tried  doubters,,  to  whom  this  dilettanti 
religionism  is  insufferable ;  for  all  true  men 
soon  see  that  vapid  and  ill-considered  criticism 
destroys  all  healthy  inquiry.  It  creates  a  shal- 
low readiness  of  talk  about  a  thing,  which  is 
the  most  fatal  hindrance  to  its  right  under- 
standing. And  just  as  the  truth  in  Art  is 
entirely  above  the  comprehension  of  the  self- 
sufficient  critic,  whose  aim  is  rather  to  say 
something  smart  than  to  advance  art-culture, 
so  is  it  in  religion ;  this  spirit  in  religion  ^  dis- 
ables us  from  fairly  understanding  its  meaning. 
Our  minds  are  fixed  upon  its  external  features  ; 
we  forget  its  aim,  we  are  like  those  who  discuss 

^  "  I  refer  to  the  disposition  to  look  at  feith  instead  of  living 
in  it ;  to  own  it  as  a  noble  fact  in  human  nature,  without 
being  personally  committed  to  it,  to  feel  interest  in  its  repre- 
sentations, but  evade  contact  with  its  realities." — Martineau, 
Hows  of  Thought,  p.  46. 

"  Waiving  the  awful  and  fundamental  question — the  only 
one  that  touches  any  living  soul, — whether  the  voice  of 
prophets  and  of  piayer  be  true,  men  agree  that  at  any  rate 
religion  is  an  indestructible  affection  of  the  human  mind  ; 
that,  whether  we  regard  it  as  a  dceam,  a  philosophy,  or  a 
revelation,  it  remains  ix  fact;  that  it  is  an  influence  of  such 
transcendant  importance  as  to  reward  study  and  demand 
regulation  and  control.  .  .  .  Churches  are  built  not  as  holy 
shrines  to  God,  but  as  platforms  of  sectional  opinion.  Doc- 
trines and  sentiments  are  eistimated  not  by  the  sincere  rule 
of  our  private  heart,  not  by  their  intrinsic  worth  and  sanc- 
tity, but  by  their  supposed  effect  on  the  prejudices  of  others 
and  the  current  usages  of  thought." — Ibid.  p.  47. 

The  same  writer  thus  tersely  sums  up  the  spirit  of  the 
age  ; — "The  critic  is  everywhere,  the  lover  nowhere." 


LECTURE    I.  15 


the  architecture  of  a  cathedral,  but  who  have  no 
knowledge  of  its  use;  we  can  understand  the 
harmony  of  its  outline,  or  the  spreading  dignity 
of  its  arches,  hut  we  have  no  ear  for  the  melody 
which  rolls  along  its  roof,  no  heart  for  the 
worship  within  its  walls.  Our  attentions  are 
drawn  away  from  the  true  purpose  of  the  struc- 
ture to  the  architectural  details,  as  our  minds 
have  been  turned  from  the  first  and  simplest 
object  of  Christianity  and  directed  to  its  form. 
We  have  complained  of  the  clamour  or  the  un- 
gainliness  of  the  machinery;  we  have  not  mea- 
sured its  value  by  its  purpose,  its  aim,  or  its 
results.  And  heaven's  gates  do  not  open  to 
such  a  misdirected  spirit,  for  the  true  measure 
of  it  is  not  in  its  capacity  to  satisfy  the  critics, 
but  in  its  power  to  do  its  work.  When  our 
minds  turn  to  this — the  w^ork  to  be  done,  and 
the  power  that  is  with  us  to  do  it,  the  evidence 
which  lies  so  near  at  hand,  which  is  buried  be- 
neath our  feet,  which  is  lodged  in  our  hearts, 
which  speaks  from  our  consciences,  will  leap  into 
life  again,  and  reveal  that  the  true  place  of  the 
Kiuo^dom  of  God  is  within  us. 

There  is  reason  therefore  to  suspect  the  exist- 
ence of  a  weakened  moral  tone  among  us.  But 
when  we  turn,  on  the  other  hand,  to  Christianity, 
we  do  not  find  reason  to  suppose  that  she  has 


16  LECTURE    I. 


lost  her  power  of  adaptation  to  the  needs  of 
mankind.  When  we  survey  her  in  her  wide- 
spread rule^  in  her  progressive  power,  and  her  im- 
partial administrations,  we  see  her  to  be  possessed 
of  the  capacity  to  adjust  herself  to  the  varying 
changes  which  test  the  energies  of  institutions. 
In  her  threefold  power  to  satisfy  diversities  of 
needs,  to  suit  the  moving  ages,  and  to  reconcile 
conflicting  interests,  we  may  still  see  her  fitness 
to  her  high  and  holy  calling.  Let  us  observe 
her  adaptation  in  these  directions,  and  we  shall 
see  her  expansive  power  in  the  world  ;  her  pro- 
gressive power  in  historj-;  and  her  reconciling 
power  among  the  rival  claims  which  distract 
mankind. 

On  this  I  wish  to  fix  your  thoughts  ;  for  1 
believe  that  Christianity  is  still  adapted  to  her 
w^ork ;  that  Christ  is  still  King.  Led  by  tliis 
belief,  I  wish  to  put  before  you  some  illustra- 
tions of  the  fact  that  tlie  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  adapted  to  meet  the  wants  of  man 
and  of  men;  that  it  is  suited  to  the  changing 
forms  of  human  history;  that  Christ  is  still 
King,  and  that  He  shows  the  sovereignty  by 
the  wondrous  adaptation  of  His  kingdom  to  the 
varying  races  of  the  world,  to  the  exigencies  of 
an  ever-expanding  civilisation,  and  above  all  to 
the  deep  spirit-needs  of  the  heart  of  man,  pained 


LECTURE    I.  17 


with  the  weig'ht  of  life's  threefold  mj^steiy, — 
an  irrevocable  past_,  an  unsolaced  present,  and 
an  uncertain  future. 

My  subject,  then,  is  the  worth  of  Christ's 
King"dom  seen  in  its  adaptation  to  man.  I  ask 
you  to  observe  Christianity  doing  its  work,  to 
measure  it  not  by  the  theories  of  men,  but  by 
its  own  aim  and  its  capacity  to  accomplish  that 
aim.  This  view  of  the  adaptation  of  Chris- 
tianity to  man  is  no  new  thought.  It  has 
occupied  other  minds  :  it  is  no  crude  idea, 
hastily  born  in  the  scant  thought-hours  of  a 
busy  life.  Men  of  calm  thought  and  of  patient 
study  have  recognised  the  force  of  the  fact.  They 
have  spoken  of  its  proved  adaptation  "  to  all  the 
spiritual  wants  of  man^  ;"  they  have  described 

'  "  Its  overtures  to  the  individual  soul,  limited  to  no  race,  or 
caste,  or  class  or  set  of  faculties,  extend  from  its  entrance  into 
life  to  the  hour  of  departure ;  are  adapted  to  its  real  wants 
and  failings ;  and  provide  for  that  immortality  wdiich  strikes 
an  answering  chord  in  the  heart  of  every  man." — Eaton's 
Permanence  of  Christianity,  p.  376,  to  which  I  am  indebted 
for  the  two  following  quotations. 

"  There  never  was  any  religion  as  that  of  Christ,  so  con- 
genial to  our  highest  instincts;  so  persuasive,  so  ennobling, 
so  universally  acceptable  to  rich  and  poor  ;  so  worthy  of  the 
intellect,  so  consistent  and  uncompromising  in  its  rules  for 
advancing  moral  excellence.  Men  could  not,  would  not  turn 
from  it,  if  it  was  properly  brought  home  to  them  ;  if  it  was 
not  tendered  to  them  with  some  admixture  of  earth  about  it, 
excitin:,'  their  suspicions  and  robbing  it  of  its  heavenly 
fragr;inee." — Ffoulkes,  Division  of  Christendom,  p.  xiv. 

"Many  I  think  are  agreed,  that  after  all  the  most 
striking  evidence  for  the  Divine  origin  of  our  faith  lies  in  the 


18  LECTUEE   I. 


it  as  '^  congenial  to  our  highest  instincts ;''  and 
this  adaptation  has  carried  conviction  to  those 
to  whom  other  modes  of  arg'ument  seemed  weak. 
"  It  meets  me  in  the  deepest  needs  of  my 
natm'e  *,"  acknowledged  one  whom  many  will 
regard  as  a  father  in  English  philosophy. 
"*'  Whoever  made  this  book  made  me,"  was  the 


exclamation  of  an  Oriental  as  he  rose  from  the 
task  of  translating  the  Bible  ^.  And  there  was 
another — a  member  of  this  University,  a  man 
of  wide  and  varied  gifts,  cut  off  in  the  morning 
of  life,  and  mourned  in  imperishable  verse  by 
the  first  of  living  poets^ — 

"  Who  fought  the  spectres  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them," — 


patent  fact  of  its  existence;  of  its  spiritual  growth  and  diffu- 
sion ;  its  proved  superiority  to  all  other  forms  of  spiritual 
thought ;  its  proved  adaptation  to  all  the  spiritual  wants  of 
man."  —  Merivale,  Lectures,  p.  6,  and  Northern  Nations, 
p.  28. 

"The  Bible  thus  not  only  discovers  a  previous  contemplation 
of  the  habits  and  faculties  of  man,  and  an  adequate  provision 
for  their  wholesome  direction,  but  that  its  substance  is  the 
very  likeness  of  man  ;  meaning  its  moral  substance,  as  it 
appears  through  all  its  historical  details,  its  exhortations  and 
its  prohibitions." — Miller's  Banipton  Lectures,  p.  84. 

"  Mei'ely  as  a  school  of  ideas  to  the  soul's  inmost  wants, 
Christianity  is  so  much  above  all  other  philosophies  in  merit 
as  the  moon  is  more  radiant  than  the  sunlight." — Cook's 
Boston  Lectures,  Series  i.  p.  6;. 

*  Coleridge. 

^  The  incident  is  related  in  the  BoJilen  Lectures  (p.  11)  by 
Dr.  Huntingdon,  Bishop  of  Central  New  York.  The  Oriental 
was  a  Chinese  student  under  Bishop  Boone. 


LECTUEE    I.  19 


and  what  was  his  witness  ?  or  whence  did  he 
draw  that  noble  faith  ?  "I  believe  this  to  be 
God's  Book  because  it  is  man's  book :  it  fits 
itself  into  every  fold  of  the  human  heart  ^." 

I.  The  width  of  her  sway  denotes  expansive 
force. 

We  often  measure  the  glory  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  by  the  wondrous  capacity  they  seem 
to  possess  of  adapting  themselves  to  every  cli- 
mate^ and  of  making  a  home  in  every  land. 
They  are  king-like  men,  born  to  rule  in  every 
clime.  It  is  but  an  illustration  of  the  greater 
ruling  power  of  Christ.  Christianity,  to  borrow 
a  beautiful  adaptation  of  the  Psalmist's  lan- 
guage, "  rose  on  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and 
found  an  abode  even  in  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  sea  '^."  This  was  the  original  aim  of  Christ. 
It  was  no  mere  accident  of  development.  It 
was    the  very  character  of   Christ's   kingdom. 

°  "  I  see  that  the  Bible  fits  into  every  fold  of  the  human 
l;eart.  I  am  a  man,  and  I  believe  it  to  be  God's  book,  because 
it  is  man's  book.  It  is  true  that  the  Bible  affords  me  no 
additional  means  of  demonstrating  the  falsity  of  Atheism ;  if 
mind  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  formation  of  the  universe, 
whatever  had  was  competent  also  to  make  the  Bible ;  but  I 
have  gained  this  advantage,  that  my  feelings  and  tlioughts 
can  no  longer  refuse  their  asstnt  to  uhat  is  evidently  framed 
to  engaf/e  that  assent  ;  and  what  is  it  to  me  that  I  cannot 
disprove  the  bare  logical  possibility  of  my  whole  nature  being 
fallacious?" — Arthur  H.  Hallam,  Theodiccea  Norissima. 

■^  Sermon  by  Dean  Stanley  on  "  Christianity  the  Universal 
Religion." 


20  LECTURE   I. 


He  aimed  at  no  empire  founded  on  the  as- 
cendancy of  one  nation  over  another.  He  re- 
fused a  king-ship  which  would  have  risen  out  of 
a  great  popular  movement  ^,  because  that  king- 
ship, from  the  very  law  of  its  growth,  would 
have  resulted  in  a  tyranny  supported  by  a  Jewish 
aristocracy.  He  proclaimed  a  kingdom  in  which 
all  men  might  have  equal  privileges  and  equal 
rights;  its  citizenship  was  free  to  all.  The 
Gospel  was  to  be  preached  to  every  creature. 
There  was  one  God  and  Father  of  all  9.  The 
Son  had  tasted  death  for  every  man"^*^.  The 
Holy  Spirit  would  be  poured  forth  upon  all 
flesh  ^^  Neither  the  intellectual  aristocracy  of 
Greece,  nor  the  religious  aristocracy  of  Judea, 
nor  the  political  aristocracy  of  Rome  were 
exempt  from  the  universal  condition,  '^  God  com- 
mandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent^',"  or 
excluded  from  the  world-wide  amnesty,  ^'  God 
so  loved  the  world  ^^." 

And  if  such  w^as  the  charter  of  Christ's  king- 
dom, it  was  a  charter  faithfully  administered, 
at  least  in  early  days.  The  pioneers  of  that 
kingdom  emerged  from  Jerusalem ;  they  were 
Jews,  in  whose  veins  the  blood  of  Abraham  and 

^  Jolin  vi.  15.  ^  Eph.  iv.  6. 

^<'  Heb.  ii.  9.'  ^^  Acts  ii.  17. 

^^  Acts  xvii.  30.  ^^  John  iii.  16. 


LECTURE    I.  21 


of  the  Prophets  flowed,  who  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  pride  of  religious  exclusiveness ;  yet 
the  despotism  of  prejudice  had  been  broken 
down  in  them.  They  knew  no  man  after  the 
flesh  ^*.  Christ  has  died  for  all ;  all,  therefore, 
are  dear  to  them  !  they  are  debtors  to  the  Jew 
and  to  the  Greek,  to  the  bond  and  to  the  free  ^^. 
They  are  as  ready  to  preach  to  the  barbarians 
of  Malta  as  to  the  cultured  Greek,  the  wealth}^ 
Corinthian,  or  the  influential  Roman.  The 
Apostle  pleads  as  earnestly  w^ith  the  few  women 
of  the  river-side,  as  in  the  midst  of  Mars  Hill  or 
in  the  precincts  of  the  Imperial  Palace.  Phile- 
mon is  as  much  his  care  as  Publius ;  Timothy 
as  Sergius  Paulus  and  Agri2)pa.  And  nothing 
more  rouses  the  hostile  energies  of  St.  Paul  and 
St  James  than  the  dawning  wish  on  the  part  of 
some  to  create  a  privileged  class  in  the  Church, 
whether  the  effort  was  made  on  social  or  semi- 
religious  principles.  Against  the  Judaiser,  who 
still  indulged  the  dream  of  some  fancied  supe- 
riority, the  whole  force  of  St.  Paul's  generous 
and  far-seeing  enthusiasm  awoke  ^^.  He  had 
caught  the  spirit  of  his  Master  too  well  to 
allow  the  glorious  kingdom  of  His  Lord  to  be 
limited  by  the  narrowness  of  a  proud  sec- 
tarianism. And  just  as  St.  Paul  contended 
^*  2  Cor.  V.  i6.  ^  Kom.i.  14.  .         "  Gal.  ii.  3-18. 


22  LECTURE    I. 


against  a  would-be  religious  aristocracy,  St. 
James  protested  against  the  broad  house  of  the 
Church  of  God  being  made  the  nursery  of  class 
prejudices'"^.  The  Charter  of  the  Kingdom 
made  its  benefits  free  to  all :  this  was  their 
conviction,  and  they  acted  on  it. 

But  it  would  have  been  vain  to  have  been  the 
preachers  of  so  wide  and  loving  a  faith  unless 
the  religion  so  preached  had  in  itself  elements 
which  proved  it  to  be  suited  to  all.  But  this  is 
what  Christianity  has  been  proved  to  possess. 
All  varieties  of  class,  race,  tongues  and  nations 
and  languages  have  acknowledged  that  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  affords  a  safe  shelter  from 
their  pains  and  cares.  Other  religions,  like  the 
special  products  of  their  own  soil  and  climate, 
seem  incapable  of  transplantation ;  they  may 
grow  in  a  specially  prepared  atmosphere  as 
scientific  specimens  for  the  curious,  but  they 
cannot  adjust  themselves  to  the  peculiarities  of 
the  diverse  climates ;  they  have  not  the  native 
hardihood  of  Christianity,  which  like  the  corn^ 
its  most  fitting  symbol,,  can  take  root  and  grow 
wherever  man  can  breathe  and  live.  This  is  her 
privilege.  Men  have  dreamed  of  an  absolute 
religion;    Christianity  alone    of  all   creeds  has 


Jar 


LECTURE    I.  23 


shown  herself  fitted  to  be  the  Universal  Faith  ^*'. 
All  the  systems  of  the  ancient  world  were 
"limited  in  their  design  and  local  in  their 
range ^\"  The  gods  of  Egypt  would  never  com- 
pel the  respect  of  the  cultured  Greek.  The  wild 
frenzies  of  the  Celtic  worship  would  find  no 
favour  with  the  calm  inflexible  priesthood  of 
Egypt.  But  the  cross  of  Christ  found  a  welcome 
in  every  land. 

And  the  wonder  of  this  is  the  greater  when 
we  consider  the  marvellous  diversities  and  op- 
positions of  character  with  which  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  came  into  contact.     The  minds  of  the 


^®  "Judaism,  as  a  supreme  religion,  expired  when  its  local 
sanctuary  was  destro3'ed.  Mohammedanism,  after  its  first 
burst  of  conquest,  withdrew  itself  almost  entirely  within  the 
limits  of  the  East.  But  Cliristianity  has  found  not  only  its 
shelter  and  refuge,  bixt  its  throne  and  home,  in  countries 
which,  humanly  speaking,  it  could  hardly  have  been  expected 
to  reach  at  all." — Sermon  by  Dean  Stanley  on  "Christianity 
the  Universal  Religion." 

19  «.  With  the  sole  exception  of  Muhammadanism, — a  heresy 
that  drew  its  dogmas  and  its  very  life-blood  from  Revealed 
Religion, — we  shall  find  that  all  the  systems  of  the  ancient 
world  were  limited  in  their  design  and  local  in  their  range. 
They  were  the  images  of  separate  nationalities ;  they  issued 
from  within  ;  they  represented  special  modes  of  thought  and 
harmonised  with  states  of  feeling  and  imagination  that  pre- 
vailed in  certain  districts  :  but  with  Christianity  the  case  was 
altogether  diiferent.  It  came  fresh  from  God  :  it  rested  on 
a  series  of  objective  revelations  :  it  was  active  and  diffusive 
as  the  light,  and  all-embracing  as  the  firmament  of  heaven  : 
it  dealt  with  man  as  man,  and  never  faltered  in  its  claim  to 
be  regarded  as  a  veritable  '  world-religion.' " — Hardwick, 
Christ  and  other  Blasters,  p.  42. 


24  LECTUEE    I. 


East  and  of  tlie  West;  the  brilliancy  of  the  Gaul, 
the  sagacity  of  the  Saxon,  the  imperious  energy 
of  the  Roman,  the  fertility  of  the  Greek,  the 
subtlety  of  the  Indian ;  the  zeal  of  the  active, 
the;  repose  of  the  contemplative  ;  the  restlessness 
of  youth,  the  vigour  of  manhood,  the  sadness 
of  old  age, — these  are  but  some  of  the  classes 
which  the  Gospel  encountered.  But  among  all, 
the  Kino^dom  of  Christ  found  a  home  ^o. 

The  ambassadors  of  Christ  were  w^eleomed 
with  enthusiasm  by  the  w^arm-hearted  Galatian, 
with  affection  and  simple  faith  by  the  men 
and  women  of  Philippi ;  with  intelligence  and 
candour  at  Beroea :  they  made  converts  at 
Athens  and  at  Bome.  They  moved  eastward. 
"  They  discoursed  as  freely  and  effectively  in 
tents  of  wandering  tribes,  as  in  the  schools  and 
temples  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  Though  century 
after  century  expired,  the  Gospel  showed  no 
symptoms  of  decay  or  imbecility;  it  was  adapted, 
as  at  first,  to  the  necessities  of  every  race  and  all 


Jo  ti.  When  we  see  Him  followed  by  the  Greek,  though  a 
founder  of  none  of  his  sects ;  revered  by  the  Brahmin,  though 
preached  unto  him  by  men  of  the  fishermen's  caste ;  wor- 
shipped by  the  red  nian  of  Canada,  though  belonging  to  the 
hated  pale  race, — we  cannot  but  consider  Him  as  destined  to 
break  down  all  distinction  of  colour,  and  shape,  and  counten- 
ance, and  habits,  to  form  in  Himself  the  type  of  unity  to 
which  are  referable  all  the  sons  of  Adam." — Wiseman, 
Lectures  on  Science  and  Religion,  Lecture  iv. 


LECTURE   I.  25 


the  varied  phases  of  society  ^^"  In  every  realm, 
from  the  British  Isles  to  the  Euxine,  the  sounds 
of  Christian  worship  were  heard.  "  Thou  mayest 
(so  said  St.  Chrysostom)  hear  men  everywhere 
discoursing  out  of  the  scripture  with  another 
voice  indeed,  but  not  with  another  faith." 

And  is  the  witness  less  true  to-day  ?     No  ! 

Still  to-day  ^^  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  moves 
silently  but  surely  over  the  face  of  the  earth 
and  captivates  diversities  of  hearts.  It  was 
always  wonderful  that  a  faith  born  in  the  East 
should  spread  with  an  imperial  power  in  the 
West :  but  as  the  ages  move  the  wonder  is  in- 
creased. If  marked  differences  betwen  Oriental 
and  Western  minds  existed  nineteen  centuries 
ago,  time  has  deepened  those  differences;  the 
East  has  been  stationary,  the  West  has  advanced, 
but  Christianity  is  '^  as  vigorous  in  her  age  as 
in  her  youth,  and  has  upon  her  the  prima  J^acie 
signs  of  the  Divinity  2^."     For  she  is  not  stricken 

^^  Hard  wick,  Christ  and  other  Masters,  p  42. 

'^'^  "After  a  revolution  of  thirteen  or  fourteen  centuries, 
that  religion  is  still  professed  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  the 
most  distinguished  portions  of  human-kind  in  arts  and 
learning  as  well  as  in  arms." — Gibbon,  vol.  ii.  p.  151,  ed.  by 
Milman, 

"  The  fishermen  of  Gennesaret  planted  Christianit}'',  and 
many  a  winter  and  many  a  summer  have  since  rolled  over  it. 
More  than  once  it  has  shed  its  leaves  and  seemed  to  be  dying, 
and  when  the  buds  burst  again,  the  colour  of  the  foliage 
was  changed." — Froude,  Short  Studies,  Series  ii.  p.  32. 

23  «i  What  the  Church  has  lost  in  lier  appeal  to  the  imagina- 


26  LECTUEE    I. 


with  paralysis  in  Asia,  and  she  exhibits  an  ex- 
panding energy  in  Europe  and  America.  "  I 
assure  you/'  it  is  the  language  of  one  who  has 
the  right  to  speak  of  India,  '^that  whatever 
3^ou  may  hear  to  the  contrary,  the  teaching  of 
Christianity  among  one  hundred  millions  of  civi- 
lised and  industrious  Hindoos  and  Moham- 
medans is  effecting  changes,  moral,  social,  and 

tion  she  has  gained  in  philosophical  cogency  by  the  evidence 
of  her  persistent  vitality.  She  is  as  vigorous  in  her  age  as 
in  her  youth,  and  has  upon  her  prima  facie  signs  of  divinity." 
— Dr.  Newman,  Grammar  of  Assent,  pp.  425-6,  quoted  in 
Eaton's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  5, 

Mr.  Lecky  writes  in  a  similar  strain  : — "  There  is  but  one 
example  of  a  religion  which  is  not  naturally  weakened 
by  civilisation,  and  that  example  is  Christianity.  In  all 
other  cases  the  decay  of  dogmatic  conceptions  is  tanta- 
mount to  a  complete  annihilation  of  the  religion ;  for 
although  there  may  be  imperishable  elements  of  moral  truth 
mingled  with  these  conceptions,  they  have  nothing  distinctive 
or  peculiar.  The  moral  truths  coalesce  with  new  systems ; 
the  men  who  uttered  them  take  their  place  with  many 
others  in  the  great  pantheon  of  History,  and  the  religion 
having  discharged  its  functions  is  spent  and  withered.  But 
the  great  characteristic  of  Christianity  and  the  great  moral 
proof  of  its  Divinity  is  that  it  has  been  the  main  source  af 
the  moral  development  of  Europe,  and  that  it  has  discharged 
this  office,  not  so  much  by  the  inculcation  of  a  system  of 
ethics,  however  pure,  as  by  the  assimilating  and  attractive 
influence  of  a  perfect  ideal.  The  moral  progress  of  mankind 
can  never  cease  to  be  distinctively  and  intensely  Christian  as 
long  as  it  consists  of  a  gradual  approximation  to  the  character 
of  the  Christian  Founder.  There  is  indeed  nothing  more 
wonderful  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  than  the  way  in 
which  that  ideal  has  traversed  the  lapse  of  ages,  acquiring  a 
new  strength  and  beauty  with  each  advance  of  civilisation, 
and  infusing  its  beneficent  influence  into  every  sphere  of 
thought  and  action." — History  of  Rationalism  in  Europe, 
vol.  i.  p.  336. 


LECTURE    I.  27 


political,  which  for  extent  and  rapidity  of  effect 
are  far  more  extraordinary  than  anything  you 
or  your  fiithers  have  witnessed  in  Modern 
Europe  24." 

And  if  we  turn  from  this  dawn  in  the  East, 
what  is  the  promise  of  the  West  ?  '^  It  is  in 
Italy,  in  France,  in  Germany,  in  England,  and 
America  (I  quote  one  whose  character  for  can- 
dour and  impartiality  is  above  all  praise)  that 
the  hopes  of  Christian  civilisation  have  rested. 
Christianity  born  in  the  East,  has  become  the  re- 
ligion of  the  West  even  more  than  of  the  East^^." 
There  is  no  need  of  more.  The  Church  of  Christ, 
if  it  witnesses  nothing  else,  witnesses  a  power 
to  suit  every  class.  She  has  her  message  of 
hope  for  the  young.  She  gives  the  exhilarating 
satisfaction  of  noble  work  to  the  strong ;  she 
can  soften  the  pang  of  regret  to  the  old ;  she 
has  gathered  beneath  her  wide-spreading  roof 
every  form  of  human  sorrow,  every  class  of 
human  character ;  the  nations  of  the  world  have 
ransacked  their  treasures  and  have  given  up 
their  noblest  to  the  sanctuary  of  Christ.  It  is 
not  that  every  nation  casts  a  jealous  eye,  and 
guards  as  a  sacred  trust,  the  sepulchre  of  Christ ; 


^*   Sir  Bartle  Frere,  p.  317,  Christian    Evidence    Society 
Lectures,  "  Faith  and  Free  Thought." 
2^  Dean  Stanley,  sermon  above  quoted. 

C  2 


28  LECTURE    I. 


far  more  potent  as  a  witness  to  the  powers  of 
Christ,  than  this  universal  guardianship  of  the 
tomb  of  the  Redeemer,  is  the  view  which  history 
gives  of  every  nation  sending  her  choicest  repre- 
sentatives to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Do  you 
ask  who  they  are  ?  Do  you  ask  for  representa- 
tives of  the  past?  I  bid  you  move  along  the 
splendid  corridors  and  aisles  of  the  Church  of 
God.  Behold  Origen,  and  Athanasius,  and  Au- 
gustine !  Do  you  ask  where  are  the  sons  of 
Greece  and  of  Rome?  Chrysostom  and  Am- 
brose are  here.  Do  you  ask  for  Celt  and  Saxon, 
Latin  and  Teuton,  St.  Bernard  and  Tauler, 
Xavier  and  Luther,  Fenelon  and  Pascal,  Wy- 
cliffe  and  Latimer,  Hooker  and  Usher,  Lancelot 
Andrewes  and  Jeremy  Taylor,  Butler  and  John 
Wesley  are  here.  Thus  from  every  land  come 
those  whose  highest  honour  is  to  honour  Him 
whose  dominion  is  from  sea  to  sea.  Those  that 
dwell  in  earth's  highest  places  have  bowed  before 
Him :  the  kings  of  commerce  and  the  kings  of 
intellect,  the  kings  of  science  and  the  kings  of 
song,  the  kings  of  society  and  the  kings  of 
saintliness,  have  offered  the  homage  of  their 
various  gifts.  Yea!  all  kings  have  worshipped 
before  Him,  and  all  nations  have  honoured  Him, 
who  is  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth. 
II.  The  progressive  power  of  His  sway  is  the 


LECTURE   I.  29 


token  of  its  eternity.  The  test  of  men's  power 
does  not  lie  in  their  own  age.  The  present 
cannot  estimate  itself;  it  needs  a  larger  wisdom, 
an  ampler  view  to  contemplate  the  surroundings 
and  conditions  of  menu's  lives,  and  a  more  im- 
partial eye  to  form  a  fair  and  fitting  judgment. 
This  lack  is  supplied  by  a  power  w^hich  comes 
forth  to  rectify  the  errors  of  men.  History 
emerges  from  her  watch-tower  and  casts  her 
impartial  eye  upon  the  works  of  men :  were  I 
to  paint  her  I  would  picture  her  as  still  in 
the  freshness  of  youth,  her  broad,  fair  brow 
unseamed  with  care ;  scorn  seated  on  her  lip ; 
her  keen  eye  looking  with  equal  calmness  upon 
the  long  past  and  upon  the  far  future;  and 
bearing  upon  the  girdle  of  truth,  which  binds 
her  simple  robe,  the  legend,  '"'She  hath  put  down 
the  mighty  from  their  seats  and  hath  exalted 
the  humble  and  meek."  She  casts  her  glance 
upon  the  works  of  men,  and  not  without  a  quiet 
irony  reverses  the  prejudiced  verdicts  of  men. 
She  shows  that  the  wealth  that  dazzled  could 
not  confer  greatness  ;  she  shows  that  men  who 
were  credited  with  almost  supernatural  powers 
were  often  but  the  creatures  of  circumstances;  she 
remorselessly  unrobes  men  of  the  purple  of  an 
imposing  splendour,  and  reveals  the  insignifi- 
cance which  has  been  honoured  with  the  title  of 


30  LECTURE    I. 


Great.  She  shows  the  emptiness  of  high-sound- 
ing titles :  the  glory  of  Croesus  dwindles  do\;vn 
to  a  name ;  the  glittering  reputation  of  literary 
pretenders  she  tears  into  shreds.  "  She  puts 
down  the  mighty  from  their  seat."  But  she 
beckons  forward  modest  and  obscure  worth  and 
bids  it  occupy  a  throne  in  the  world.  She  reverses 
the  positions  of  men.  She  dismisses  the  monarch 
of  Egypt,  scarcely  deigning  to  pause  and  record 
his  name  ;  she  enthrones  the  shepherd  of  Midian 
among  the  legislators  of  the  earth  ;  she  flings 
Nero  into  the  horror  chamber  of  history; 
she  enshrines  St.  Paul  in  the  Pantheon  of  the 
world.  She  silences  the  voice  of  the  foolish 
merry  sovereign  who  filled  Whitehall  Chambers 
with  idlers  and  favourites ;  she  opens  the  mouth 
of  the  blind,  unheeded  poet  of  Aldersgate-street, 
and  bids  men  listen  to  a  voice  ^'  majestic  like 
the  sea." 

Such  is  the  wise  irony  of  impartial  history — 
and  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  She  measures 
men  not  by  the  tawdry  reputations  of  the  hour, 
but  by  the  influence  they  can  difiuse;  she 
watches  the  circling  wave  which  forms  as  men 
cast  their  force  into  the  great  ocean  of  life, 
and  she  measures  their  power  by  the  life  of 
that  wave,  and  she  finds  that  few — few  indeed 
—-have  been  able  to  spread  their  influence  beyond 


LECTURE    I.  31 


their  age  ;  she  notes  many  exalted  to  the  skies, 
and  she  sees  that  in  the  next  generation  their 
name  is  clean  put  out;  she  measures  the  great- 
ness of  men  as  men  do  the  height  of  mountains, 
by  the  length  of  the  shadows  they  cast  upon 
the  surface  of  the  world ;  and  measuring  thus 
she  bids  those  whose  influence  lives  through  the 
ages  to  sit  like  gods  among  the  hills  of  time. 
Such  is  the  test  of  history  to  the  pretensions  of 
men. 

Thus  does  Sovereign  History  deal  with  the 
reputations  of  m.en.  Christ,  in  founding  His 
kingdom,  challenged  the  verdict  of  this  inexor- 
able and  impartial  sovereign ;  He  has  braved 
her  power  and  He  has  triumphed.  As  the  ages 
moved,  the  lustre  of  His  name  gathered  bright- 
ness, and  the  stability  of  His  influence  grew 
stronger.  The  Galilean  peasant,  the  carpenter's 
son,  the  Nazarene,  has  ascended  the  throne  of 
the  world,  and  spread  His  empire  through  time. 
He  has  not  only  vindicated  His  own  power,  but 
He  has  shown  Himself  capable  of  conferring 
dominion  upon  others.  Let  the  name  of  Christ 
be  blotted  out,  and  lo !  what  numberless  names 
must  die  with  His  death.  Let  Christ  be  reckoned 
as  naught,  and  behold  all  those  into  whom  He 
breathed  the  breath  of  power  must  die  with 
Him.    When  the  light  of  the  sun  pales,  the  hue 


32  LECTUEE    I. 


of  every  petal  of  every  flower  fades  :  thus  would 
the  beauty  which  lingers  round  the  names  of 
Mary  and  Lydia_,  and  the  splendour  which 
adorns  the  names  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  of 
Augustine  and  of  Gregory,  of  Anselm  and  of 
Melancthon,  of  Thomas  a  Kempis  and  of  Donne, 
fade,  if  He,  who  was  once  the  Sim  of  the  Day 
of  Christianity,  sank  from  the  heavens.  But  He 
has  not  vanished  beneath  the  horizon.  He  is 
in  the  meridian  of  His  glory  !  He  is  seated 
upon  the  Throne  of  the  world  !  Let  the  throne 
of  the  world  be  declared  vacant  to-morrow.  No 
other  name  could  be  named  that  would  not  pro- 
voke angry  competition;  but  when  Jesus  Christ 
is  seated  there,  there  is  none  that  has  dared  to 
dispute  His  right.  Yea,  those  who  withhold 
from  Him  Divine  homage  acknowledge  that  He, 
and  He  alone^  is  worthy  to  be  seated  there. 
''  Rest^  then,  upon  Thy  Throne,  O  Thou  vic- 
torious One ;  henceforth  between  Thee  and  God 
men  will  no  longer  disting^uish  ^'^."  It  is  the 
impassioned  eloquence  of  a  French  sceptic. 
Hear  the  sober  and  well-matured  judgment  of 
an  Englishman,  whose  clear,  cold  intellect  was 
never  betrayed  into  words  of  meaningless  pane- 
gyric.    "Nor  even  now  would  it  be  easy,  even 

^^  Renan,  Vie  de  Jesus. 


LECTURE    I.  33 


for  an  unbeliever,  to  find  a  better  translation  ot 
the  rule  of  virtue  from  the  abstract  or  the  con- 
crete, than  to  endeavour  so  to  live  as  that  Christ 
would  approve  our  life^^.'^  Such  is  the  ver- 
dict of  impartial  history  on  One  who  nineteen 
centuries  ago  was  despised  and  rejected  uf  men. 
Who  is  seated  on  the  throne  of  the  world,  if  it 
be  not  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ? 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  certain  grave 
exceptions  have  been  urged  against  the  integrity 
of  Christ^s  Empire.  It  is  not  a  question  it  may 
be  said  of  personal  power ;  there  is  a  poetical 
homage  which  men  are  willing  enough  to  give  to 
the  idealised  representations  of  men,  but  if  we 
are  to  apply  a  true  test,  we  must  not  ask  merely 
what  is  the  reputation  of  Christ,  but  we  m.ust  ask 
how  His  Kingdom  has  fared.  We  must  observe 
how  far  it  has  proved  itself  to  be  a  beneficent 
empire,  conferring  blessings  upon  mankind ;  and 
it  is  not  against  Christ  Himself,  but  against  the 
success  of  His  administration,  that  the  strongest 
objections  are  made. 

I  shall  notice  three.  First,  it  has  been  said  that 
Christianity  has  failed  because  the  history  of  the 
past  shows  that  in  many  points  the  expecta- 
tionsj  which  men  were  led  to  form,  have  proved 

"  J.  S.  Mill,  Easai/  on  Religion,  p.  253. 


34  LECTURE    I. 


deceptive.  Now  this  objection,  when  stated  in 
its  simplest  form,  means  that  Christianity  has 
failed  because  men  have  not  found  that  their 
expectations  have  been  realised.  It  certainly  at 
the  outset  is  a  strange  thing  that  a  man  should 
be  held  responsible  for  all  the  absurd  expecta- 
tions which  have  been  entertained  on  his  behalf, 
and  I  would  ask  you  to  notice  that  almost  every 
new  scheme,  enterprise,  and  invention  has  had 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  three  different  stages  of 
public  opinion — the  stage  of  ridicule,  the  stage 
of  exaggerated  expectation_,  and  the  stage  of 
just  appreciation.  Men  first  deride  the  hopes 
of  original  genius ;  then  they  rush  to  the  ex- 
treme of  the  most  unmeasured  applause;  and 
only  at  last  the  stirred  ocean  sinks  to  the  calm 
level  of  a  fair  judgment*  Whether  it  is  the 
steam  engine,  or  gas,  or  the  electric  light,  you 
first  hear  ridicule  and  contempt.,  then  abject 
and  unreasoning  wonder,  and  finally  contented 
understanding.  Like  the  barbarians  of  Malta, 
they  look  upon  the  apostle  of  every  new  cause, 
first  as  a  character  with  a  blot  on  it;  then  as 
a  God ;  and  only  at  last,  when  the  extremes 
have  passed,  as  a  minister  of  simple,  practical 
good.  And  Christianity  has  not  been  exempt 
from  these  paroxysms  of  prejudiced  judgment. 
It  is  true  that  the  faith  of  Christians  can  never 


LECTURE    I.  35 


be  too  strong" ;  and  the  faith  of  men  in  their 
Lord  will  never  be  put  to  shame.  But  there  is 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  strong 
faith  and  an  omnivorous  credulity;  between 
simple  trust  and  an  exaggerated  expectation. 
If  faith  be  the  hand  of  the  soul,  its  strength  is 
not  to  be  measured  by  the  number  of  things  it 
clutches  at_,  but  rather  by  the  firmness  of  its 
grasp.  That  firm  grasp  of  faith  will  never  fail, 
but  the  timid  stupidity  which  seizes  on  straws 
will  likely  enough  sink  beneath  the  waves  of 
doubt.  It  can  never  be  too  often  affirmed  that 
there  is  a  whole  heaven  of  difference  between 
the  faith  of  men  and  their  expectations ;  and  it 
is  no  proof  that  Christianity  has  failed  in  her 
work  because  the  silly  expectations  of  infatuated 
Christians  have  been  over  and  over  again  fal- 
sified :  the  failure  of  Christian  expectations  is 
not  the  failure  of  the  faith. 

Examples  will  make  this  clearer.  The  faith 
of  the  devout  Jews  was  directed  by  their  pro- 
phets to  the  advent  of  a  Messiah  ;  but  as  the 
years  moved  on  strange  and  gross  conceptions 
of  the  Messiah's  work  were  formed.  If  he  was 
to  be  a  king,  a  king  to  them  meant  territory 
and  armies,,  wars  and  conquest,  wealth  and 
worldly  splendour.  These  were  the  expecta- 
tions.    The  event   fulfilled  their  faith,  but  it 


36  LECTURE   1. 


falsified  their  expectations.  The  Messiah  came, 
but  His  Kingdom  was  not  of  this  world. 
Another  era  dawned.  The  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ  took  the  place  of  the  devout  followers  of 
Moses.  Their  faith  looked  forward  to  the  return 
of  their  Lord  ;  and  out  of  that  faith,  imagination 
born  of  Mosaic  literature,  and  perhaps  nurtured 
by  present  sorrow,  began  to  build  up  once  more 
gross  and  material  expectations ;  they  began  to 
measure  the  promises  of  their  Master  by  their 
own  earthly  wishes,  and  the  years  of  Him  who 
liveth  for  ever  and  ever  by  the  span  of  their 
own  narrow  life.  Then  came  the  words  of 
apostolic  caution  to  those  who  taught  that  the 
day  of  the  Lord  is  at  hand.  And  what  did  that 
caution  (applicable  to  the  self-constituted  pro- 
phets of  our  own  day  as  to  them)  amount  to  ? 
It  told  them  that  their  faith  was  undoubtedly 
right ;  the  day  of  the  Lord  would  come ;  but  that 
their  expectations  were  entirely  wrong.  That 
day  would  not  come  without  the  intervening 
ages  of  trial  and  apostasy.  And  it  is  not  in  the 
world  of  theology  alone  that  men's  faith  has 
been  right  but  the  expectations  wrong.  It  was 
the  faith  of  Columbus  that  he  could  find  land 
by  sailing  towards  the  sunset.  His  expectation 
was  that  the  land  so  found  would  prove  to  be 
the  already  known  East  Indies.     His  expecta- 


LECTUEE    I.  37 


tion  was  wrong — though  his  faith  was  right  — 
God^s  world  proved  then  (as  it  has  often  proved 
since)  to  be  larger  than  the  little  thoughts  of 
men.  Thus  evermore  do  the  widening  pur- 
poses of  God  vindicate  the  faith  and  rebuke  the 
expectations  of  men.  The  broadening  world 
and  the  broadening  future  are  like  the  finger  of 
God  which  beckons  the  Church  of  Christ  on- 
ward to  take  possession  of  new  worlds  and  to 
plan  for  new  eras ;  but  the  hand  which  beckons 
us  onward  destroys  our  false  and  hastily- con- 
ceived hopes.  We  are  taught  that  faith  need 
not  fall  because  the  theories  of  men  are  proved 
crude.  The  reality  of  a  great  fact  is  not  to  be 
discredited  by  the  stupidity  of  its  interpreters, 
else  it  would  go  hard  with  the  Solar  System 
and  the  British  Constitution.  The  Ptolemaic 
theory  goes  down,  but  the  planets  are  not 
shaken  from  their  courses  ;  the  starry  worlds 
sweep  onward  in  their  quiet  orbits  :  noisy  poli- 
ticians vapour  their  narrow  thoughts  ;  the  pro- 
gress of  free  institutions  moves  forward.  The 
schemes  of  prophetic  interpretation,  the  elaborate 
ecclesiasticisms,  the  narrow  and  petrified  con- 
sistency of  symmetrical  dogmatism,  all  may 
be  disappointed,  but  Christ's  Kingdom  will 
move  forward  on  her  starry  course  ;  the 
puerile  and  the  antiquated  notions  of  men  and 


38  LECTURE    I. 


Churclies  may  vanisli,  yet  Thou,  Christ,  art 
King.  "  They  shall  perish,  but  Thou  remainest; 
they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment,  and 
as  a  vesture  shalt  Thou  fold  them  up,  and  they 
shall  be  changed :  but  Thou  art  the  same,  and 
Thy  years  shall  not  fail  2^. " 

A  second  objection  is  that  Christianity,  as  a 
system  of  moral  regeneration,  has  failed  when 
tried  by  History,  because  she  has  developed 
certain  grave  corruptions.  It  will  not  be  denied 
by  any  one  that  the  history  of  the  past  eighteen 
centuries  has  been  darkened  with  violence  and 
stained  with  blood.  We  might  perhaps  plead 
that  whenever  Christian  influence  has  been  in 
the  ascendant,  then  the  moral  tone  and  the 
humane  tone  have  prevailed;  at  least  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  average  standard  is  decidedly 
in  advance  of  that  attained  under  other  in- 
fluences. If  such  be  the  case,  as  I  believe  it  is, 
may  we  not  say  that  steady  increments  of  good 
are  the  most  satisfying  proofs  of  true  and  real 
progress.  Spasmodic  prosperity  may  be  due  to 
exceptional  causes.  Well-graduated  and  in- 
creasing prosperity  must  be  due  to  steady  and 
well-sustained  growth  of  the  sources  of  pros- 
perity. 

But  it  is  important  to  distinguish   between 

^  Heb.  i.  II,  12. 


LECTURE    I.  39 


things  which  differ.  In  any  great  movement 
there  are  circumstances  attending  its  growth 
which  need  to  be  investigated  before  it  can  be 
fairly  assumed  that  they  are  the  consequences 
of  the  movement  at  all ;  and  even  when  we 
have  ascertained  that  they  are  the  consequences 
of  the  movement,  we  must  again  investigate 
whether  they  are  consequences  which  are  the 
real  offspring  of  its  own  bosom,  or  only  conse- 
quences developed  in  the  course  of  its  progress. 
There  are  thus  three  classes  of  circumstances — 
circumstances  independent  of  a  movement  but 
attending  it;  circumstances  which  are  the  de- 
veloped consequences  of  a  movement;  circum- 
stances which  are  the  real  offspring  of  it.  These 
must  be  distinguished.  A  common-place  illus- 
tration will  be  forgiven.  A  man  is  ill ;  his 
doctor  prescribes  for  him.  If  the  sick  man 
injures  himself  by  a  fall,  that  is  a  circumstance 
independent  of  the  doctor  or  his  remedy.  But 
if  the  doctor's  remedy  produces,  because  of  the 
poison  in  the  man's  bloody  some  painful  symp- 
toms, these  are  consequences  for  which  the 
medical  man  is  not  responsible ;  they  are  inci- 
dental consequences  of  the  remedy:  but  if  the 
medicine  given  is  wrong,  and  death  or  disease 
ensues,  then  the  doctor  is  responsible.  We 
cannot  charge  men  or  some  new  scheme  with 


40  LECTURE    1. 


any  but  those  consequences  which  are  deducible 
from  their  principles.  Liberty  is  not  responsible 
for  revolution.  Religion  is  not  responsible 
for  the  crimes  committed  in  her  name.  In 
estimating  then  the  great  events  of  human  pro- 
gress we  must  distinguish  between  essential 
consequences  and  incidental  consequences,  and 
also  between  consequences  and  after-events. 

After-events  must  not  be  interpreted  as  con- 
sequences. Post  hoc  ergo  Propter  hoc  is  an  ab- 
surd principle  :  it  is  ridiculed  in  daily  life.  The 
thunderstorm  which  disturbs  a  wedding-party 
is  not  a  consequence  of  the  wedding.  Neither 
are  sickness  and  poverty  and  war^  as  such,  con- 
sequences of  Christianity:  they  were  as  rife 
before  Christ's  coming  as  after:  they  existed 
before :  they  could  not,  therefore,  be  consequences 
of  Christ's  advent.  Incidental  consequences  are 
not  the  same  as  essential  consequences.  The 
evils  which  a  movement  developes  are  not  all 
evils  which  it  creates.  It  is  the  method  of  the 
physician  to  develop  the  latent  disease ;  the 
poison  in  the  blood  must  be  brought  out ;  he 
does  not  create  the  evil,  he  only  brings  to  light 
what  existed  before.  Similarly  Christianity  has 
no  doubt  developed  evils.  The  bringing  to  light 
the  hidden  things  of  darkness  was  a  part  of 
Christ's  scheme.    There  is  nothing  hidden  which 


LECTURE    I.  41 


shall  not  be  made  known,  neither  covered 
that  shall  not  be  revealed.  To  convince  the 
world  of  sin  was  a  part  of  the  Holy  Spirit's 
work  2^.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  still  less  com- 
plained of,  that  Christianity  has  made  certain 
evils  reveal  themselves  as  evils?  Concealed 
they  were  fatal  to  mankind,  revealed  they  were 
brought  out  to  be  seen  and  to  be  condemned. 
An  example  may  be  given.  Persecution  for 
opinion  has  been  thought  by  some  to  have  been 
due  to  Christianity.  Its  intensity  was  no  doubt 
a  consequence  of  Christianity,  but  not  a  creation 
nor  a  legitimate  offspring  of  her  teaching.  In 
this  she  revealed  what  was  in  man — she  gave 
to  man  keener  convictions  as  to  the  supreme 
importance  of  religion.  Religion  was  no  longer 
a  mere  ritual  or  an  inoperative  ceremonial ; 
it  was  a  power  fraught  with  strange  and  far- 
reaching  consequences.  A  man's  religion  then 
was  no  trifling  accident  of  his  life,  like  the 
colour  of  his  coat  or  of  his  hair.  It  w^as  raised 
to  a  matter  of  supreme  interest.  Earnestness 
was  created — we  shall  not  blame  her  for  that. 
Want  of  earnestness  will  surely  be  condemned 
as  a  moral  suicide,  and  a  high  crime  and  mis- 
demeanour against  society.     But  this  quickened 

29  John  xvi.  8. 
D 


42  LECTURE    I. 


earnestness  brouglit  to  light  the  hidden  germ  of 
a  fatal  moral  aberration  in  the  heart  of  man- 
kind. The  same  sun  which  ripens  the  good  seed 
ripens  the  evil  also.  "  The  faith  that  simply 
adds  to  the  folly  and  ferocity  of  one,  is  turned 
to  enduring  sweetness,  abounding  charity,  and 
self-sacrifice  in  another.  Christianity  varies  with 
the  nature  upon  which  it  falls ^^.'"  Some  natures 
there  were  which  found  it  impossible  to  be  in 
earnest  without  animosity.  Why  was  this? 
Was  the  animosity  the  creation  of  Christianity? 
It  was  developed  by  the  creation  of  religious 
earnestness ;  but  the  ill- weed  sjorang  not  from 
Christ,  but  from  the  soil  of  the  human  heart. 
"  Ye  know  not  what  manner  of  Spirit  ye  are 
of,"  was  the  w^ail  of  religion  at  the  stake  and  at 
the  rack ;  the  hand  of  religion  was  fain  rather 
to  wipe  the  pain- sweat  from  the  heretic's  brow, 
than  to  turn  one  look  of  approval  on  the  In- 
quisitor. Scenes  like  these  are  abhorrent  to 
humanity,  and  are  abhorrent  to  Christianity 
which  was  sent  to  be  the  guardian  of  all  that 
was  humane  and  merciful,  as  well  as  holy; 
scenes  like  these  prove  not  that  Christianity  has 
failed,  but  that  there  was  a  tremendous  fund  of 
unholy  passions   in  human  nature  which  only 

^  Prof.  Tyndall,  Contemporary  Reviexo,  xx.  p.  766. 


LECTURE    I.  43 


time,  and  faith,  and  knowledge  could  eradicate. 
There  are  evils  developed  then  by  a  system 
which  are  not  the  essential  outgrowth  of  it. 
Only  when  the  vice  is  bound  up  with  the  very 
texture  of  a  religion  can  we  fairly  charge  her 
with  causing  it,  in  the  sense  of  being  responsible 
for  its  existence.  The  modifying  influence  of  the 
soil  is  to  be  taken  into  account;  the  seed  is  not 
responsible  for  what  springs  up  with  it  and  tends 
to  choke  it.  It  is  diiferent  when  certain  evils 
are  clearly  inherent  in  the  sj^irit  of  a  religion. 
The  religion  of  Mohammed  is  not  responsible 
for  many  of  the  vices,  which  are  rather  of  the 
East  than  of  the  Prophet.  But  it  is  responsible 
for  the  vices  which  it  takes  under  its  wing  and 
fosters,  or  to  use  the  words  of  a  great  authority, 
consecrates.  "It  has  consecrated  slavery;  it 
has  consecrated  polygamy;  it  has  consecrated 
despotism ^^"  Here  are  three  evils  which  go  to 
the  degradation  of  man  in  the  three  spheres  of 
his  life — the  individual,  the  social,  the  political. 
Man  is  degraded  by  slavery _,  the  family  by  poly- 
gamy, the  nation  and  the  government  by  des- 
potism. The  sj^stem  which  consecrates  these 
makes  them  of  her  essence  and  must  be  respon- 
sible.    If,  theU;   the    accusation   be   true    that 

^^  Freeman.     Saracens — quoted  by  Dean  Church — 7n/«- 
ences  of  Christianity  on  National  Character,  p.  8. 

D   2, 


44  LECTURE   I. 


Moliammedism  has  consecrated  these,  she  has 
woven  them  into  her  creed  and  made  them  her 
own.  But  who  will  say  that  Christianity  has 
consecrated  persecution  ?  If  wild  fanatics  and 
slaughterous  renegades  loved  to  baptize  their  foes 
in  flames,  they  were  not  true  disciples  of  that 
creed  which  sought  to  baptize  with  that  Holy 
Spirit,  whose  first-fruits  are  love,  joy,  peace, 
longsuffering. 

But  there  is  a  third  objection.  Christ's 
kingdom  it  is  said  must  be  pronounced  a  moral 
failure,  because  it  has  not  yet  abolished  many  of 
the  unquestioned  ills  of  society.  The  objection 
is  not  to  what  Christianity  has  done,  but  to 
what  she  has  not  done.  It  is  said,  '  If  Chris- 
tianity be  a  great  social  regenerator,  how  is  it 
that,  after  eighteen  centuries  of  trial,  there  yet 
remains  so  much  undone  that  by  all  confession 
ought  to  be  done  ?' 

The  objection  is  based,  I  think,  upon  a  double 
misconception — a  misconception  of  the  aim,  and 
a  misconception  of  the  method  of  Christ. 

But,  first,  let  me  confess  that  the  accusation, 
though  not  fairly  chargeable  against  Christ  and 
His  Kingdom,  is,  alas !  in  much,  fairly  charge- 
able against  His  Church.  Over  and  over  again 
we  have  found  in  our  own  lives,  and  we  have 
bad   exemplified  in   the   history   of  Churches, 


LECTURE    I.  45 


that  the  most  indefensible  result  of  our  follies  is 
that  we  have  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  our 
brother's  way.  The  self-seeking,  the  avarice, 
the  truculence  of  the  Church  has  too  often 
created  a  profound  distrust  in  men :  the  weak 
and  oppressed  looked  to  her  as  an  ally,  but  they 
found,  alas  !  but  too  frequently,  a  tyrant.  But 
while  all  stand  self-abashed,  let  us  in  our  con- 
fession clear  our  Master  from  complicity  in  our 
weakness.  If  we  have  been  selfish,  worldly, 
oppressive;  supple-kneed  to  the  wealthy  and 
iron-hearted  to  the  weak  ;  it  was  in  spite  of  Thy 
word,  against  Thy  will,  O  Thou  who  didst  bid 
the  weary  and  the  heavy-laden  to  come  to  Thee! 
The  objection  is  based,  I  said,  on  a  two-fold 
misconception — a  misconception  of  the  aim  of 
Christianity  and  of  its  method.  It  is  surely  *by 
its  aim  and  method  that  we  are  to  judge  of  a  new 
system.  Not  our  expectations,  but  its  inten- 
tions and  purpose,  should  govern  our  estimate 
of  its  value.  Christianity  did  not  design  to  be 
a  legislative  abolition  act  of  all  evil ;  it  was  not 
of  the  nature  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  still  less 
of  an  Oriental  decree.  It  was  rather  to  be  an 
educational  force,  and  to  throw  its  influence  into 
the  slowly  upward  moving  ages,  and  to  guide 
and  assist  their  growth  into  freer  life.  If  it 
aimed  to  be  an  educational  force,  then  in  the 


46  LECTURE   I. 


nature  of  the  case  must  she  not  adopt  a  method 
adapted  to  the  slowly  developing  capacities  of 
those  to  be  educated  ? 

Thus  the  method  of  Christianity  has  also  been 
misconceived.  That  method  is  not  immediate, 
but  progressive  and  ultimate.  And  it  was 
scarcely  open  to  choose  another  method.  It 
might  have  seemed  to  some  a  more  desirable 
way  to  bring  about  an  immediate  cessation  of 
all  forms  of  evil ;  but  this  could  only  have  been 
done  by  an  act  of  coercion  ;  and  God  deals  with 
us  as  with  men,  not  as  with  slaves.  The  power 
of  Christianity  is  this,  that  it  is  a  power  which 
waits  on  men.  It  promises  much,  but  the  pro- 
mises are  very  largely  contingent  on  man's  co- 
operation. This  the  New  Testament  constantly 
warns  us  to  notice.  The  abolition  of  war^  pain, 
and  disease  was  no  doubt  often  longed  for  in 
early  Christian  days;  and  men  looked,  as  we 
have  seen,  for  an  immediate  millennium,  but  the 
golden  age  was  not  to  dawn  so  soon.  It  might 
dawn  at  once  if  men  instantly  lived  by  the 
principles  Christ  laid  dowm.  Then  indeed,  when 
all  men's  good  w^as  each  man's  rule,  would 
universal  peace  cast  her  shaft  of  light  athwart 
the   w^orld  ^^,      But    the   early  Christians  were 

3*  "  But  we  grow  old.     Ah  !  when  shall  all  men's  good 
Be  each  man's  rule,  and  universal  Peace 


LECTUEE    I.  47 


warned  that  these  high  principles  would  only 
be  received  slowly.  Wars,  famines,  persecutions 
must  take  place  before  the  true  reign  of  Christ 
in  its  fulness  and  its  beauty  would  be  established. 
The  sacred  seer  at  Patmos  beheld  in  the  con- 
quering white-robed  horseman  the  emblem  of 
an  ultimate  truth.  Christ  would  be  conqueror; 
but  that  vision  faded  and  its  place  was  taken 
by  the  emblems  of  war,  death,  persecution,  and 
revolution,  before  the  still  peace  of  the  heavenly 
reign  could  come  ^^.  For  only  as  the  moral  power 
of  men  ripened  would  they  accept  and  adopt  the 
principles  of  Christ^s  Kingdom  ^*.  It  is  then 
always  to  be  remembered  that  Christ  deals  with 
men  who  are  free  to  choose^  and  with  a  race 
which  can  only  grow  in  moral  elevation  by  slow 
degrees. 

Lie  like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 
And  like  a  lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea, 
Tliro'  all  the  circle  of  the  golden  year?" 

Tennyson,  The  Golden  Year. 
^  Rev.  vi.  and  vii.  i. 

^*  "It  was  in  vain  that  Christianity  had  taught  a  simple 
doctrine  and  enjoined  a  simple  worship.  The  minds  of  men 
were  too  backward  for  so  great  a  step,  and  required  mora 
complicated  forms  and  a  more  complicated  belief." — Buckle, 
History  of  Civilization,  vol,  i.  p.  259. 

"  Le  Christianisme  n'est  pas  ete  depos^  sur  la  terre  comme 
une  borne  avec  une  inscription  divine,  marquante  la  limite 
de  notre  activite  ;  il  est  un  principe  de  vie,  un  germe  fecond 
appele  k  p^n<^trer  I'individu  et  la  soci^te  come  la  levain 
penetre  la  pate,  suivant  une  compara'son  familifere  mais 
frappante  de  I'Evangile." — E.  de  Pressens^,  La  Euine  Sociale. 


48  LECTURE   I. 


And  when  we  turn  to  the  positive  side  of  the 
question  and  ask  what  Christianity  has  done, 
we  find  that  she  has  achieved  her  work  on  this 
method  of  slow  and  well-graduated  progress. 
It  took  generations  for  men  to  perceive  that 
slavery  was  essentially  at  variance  with  the 
theological  principle  of  a  redeemed  w^orld.  It 
took  years  before  men  perceived  what  a  vast 
social  revolution  was  effected  by  Christianity  in 
the  restoration  of  woman  to  her  rightful  place 
as  the  helpmeet  of  man.  And  slow  as  these 
have  been^  there  is  more  to  come.  If  war  has 
not  ceased,  it  is  only  because  the  moral  sense  of 
mankind  is  behindhand  in  this  matter :  the 
ideal  world  set  before  us  is  a  world  in  which 
war  shall  be  no  more :  an  educated  world  will 
perhaps  be  able  to  realise  it,  and  the  day  come 
when  war  will  be  reckoned  as  senseless  a  way  of 
settling  disputes,  as  duelling  is  thought  now  by 
all  men  when  not  suffering  from  the  derange- 
ment of  personal  and  political  excitement.  In 
this  slow  way  Christianity  accomplishes  her 
work — what  has  been  done  is  the  pledge  of 
what  may  be  done. 

We  have  touched  on  objections,  but  turn 
your  glance  upon  the  advance  made,  and  see 
the  positive  evidence.  Christ  in  establishing 
His  Kingdom  challenged  the  verdict  of  history; 


LECTURE    I.  49 


and  He  triumphed  ;  for  He  by  His  influence 
has  changed  the  course  of  history,  and  spread 
a  higher  civilisation  over  the  world.  I  will  not 
claim  what  will  not  be  conceded  ;  but  Christ's 
power  over  history  is  no  fiction.  He  created 
the  Church,  and  made  her  a  nursery  for  good^''. 
In  spite  of  the  recklessness  of  her  sons,  she 
has  achieved  much  ;  the  nearer  she  keeps  to 
His  spirit  and  instructions  of  His  Word  the 
more  she  will  achieve.  As  it  is,  the  record  is  a 
noble  one.  She  diminished  sensuality  ^^  by  point- 
ing to  the  true  dignity  of  man.  She  made 
tyranny  quail  ;  for  she  witnessed  to  a  righteous 
King.  She  smote  the  fetters  from  the  slave. 
She  vivified  and  extended,  even  if  she  did  not 
create,  the  spirit  of  humane  thoughtfulness  for 
the  afflicted.  She  placed  the  bright  crown  of 
domestic  queenship  upon  woman's  brow.  She 
consecrated  every  honest  toil;  she  has  mitigated 


^5  Mr.  Eaton  in  his  Bampton  Lectures  ("  Permanence  of 
Christianity,"  p.  8)  quotes  two  witnesses  on  this  subject. 
"  All  that  we  call  modern  civilization  in  a  sense  which  deserves 
the  name,  is  the  visible  expression  of  the  transforming  power 
of  the  Gospel."  (Froude,  Short  Studies  ii,  p.  39.)  "Chris- 
tianity," writes  Mr.  Lecky,  "  the  hfe  of  morality,  the  basis  of 
civilization,  has  regenerated  the  world." 

^®  "  It  (the  Christian  religion)  softens  the  character, 
purifies  and  directs  the  imagination,  blends  insensibly'  with 
habitual  modes  of  thought,  and  without  revolutionising 
gives  a  tone  and  bias  to  all  the  forms  of  action." — Lecky, 
European  Morals,  vol.  i.  p.  205. 


50  LECTURE    I. 


the  ferocity  of  war,  and  she  has  called  into  being 
a  noble  rivalry  of  benevolence  in  the  breasts  of 
civilised  men.  "  As  a  matter  of  fact,"  writes 
one  whom  all  will  acknowledge  to  be  as  erudite 
as  he  is  impartial, — ^'  as  a  matter  of  fact  Chris- 
tianity has  done  more  to  quicken  the  affection 
of  mankind^  to  promote  piety,  to  create  a  pure 
and  merciful  idea  than  any  other  influence  that 
has  ever  acted  on  the  world  ^'^." — Remembering 
Him,  who  cared  for  the  bodies  of  men,  she 
roused  society  to  compassionate  the  sick  and 
afflicted  ^^:    mindful  of  .the  brotherly  love   He 


^^  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.  p.  163.  Compare  the  language 
of  M.  Troplong  : — "Chrlstiamty  was  really  not  only  a  pro- 
gress in  the  truths  received  before  its  time  which  it  enlarged, 
completed,  and  clothed  witli  a  character  more  sublime,  and 
a  strength  more  sympathetic,  but  it  was  moreover  (and  this 
is  literally  true  even  for  the  most  incredulous)  the  descent  of 
a  spirit  from  on  high  on  the  classes  disinherited  by  science 
and  plunged  in  the  darkness  of  polytheism.  Ancient  philo- 
sophy, with  all  its  merits,  was  chargeable  with  the  unpar- 
donable wrong  of  remaining  cold  in  the  presence  of  the  evils 
of  humanity." — Quoted  by  Sir  J.  B.  Byles,  Foundations  of 
Ri'Jiyion  in  the  Mind  and  Heart  of  Man,  p.  122. 

■^  In  an  interesting  article  in  the  Westminster  Revieiv, 
entitled  "  Pre- christian  Dispensaries  and  Hospitals,"  the  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  in  the  establishment  of  hospitals  is 
admitted: — "Thus  we  see  that  the  glory  of  Christianity  doe8 
not  lie  in  having  originated  the  idea  of  hospitals,  but  in 
having  seized  it,  like  the  runners  the  torch  in  the  ancient 
games,  and  carried  it  forward  with  brighter  flame  and  more 
intense  enthusiasm."  It  was  the  earnestness  of  Christians 
which  roused  the  heathen  world: — "This  work  of  the  Chris- 
tians excited  the  emulation  of  the  Emperor  Julian.  These 
impious  Christians  give  themselves  to  this  kind  of  humanity; 
and  although  he  thought  their  motives  base,  yet  he  orders 


LECTURE    I.  51 


taught,  slie  strove  to  awaken  a  true  enthusiasm 
of  humanity:  helieving  in  Ilim,  who  was  the 
true  light  and  life  of  men,  she  sought  to  kindle 
the  flame  of  love  and  hope  in  every  heart. 

Such  have  been  her  achievements,  and  her 
achievements  are  the  measure  of  the  extent  and 
duration  of  His  influence,  who  has  proved  Him- 
self king  in  the  order  of  history,  as  He  is  king 
over  the  varied  characters  of  men.  He  has  made 
the  tree  of  life  to  grow  alongside  the  tree  of 
advancing  knowledge,  that  knowledge  may  not 
turn  to  decay.  He  has  shone  upon  the  world 
not  only  as  a  sun  difi^using  light  everywhere, 
but  His  light  has  moved  in  the  marching  ages  ; 
never  outstripping  the  growing  thoughts  of  men, 
but  casting  a  Shekinah  glory  upon  their  ad- 
vancing footsteps  through  the  wilderness  of  toil, 
to  the  Holy  Land  of  Promise. 

III.  But  there  is  another  note  of  power  in 
the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  One  of  the  greatest 
difficulties  of  rulers  is  to  treat  adjusting  rival 
claims.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  do  justice 
when  one  interest  only  has  to  be  considered ;  it 
is  the  apparent  conflict  of  interests  and  rights 


Arsacius  to  establish  abundance  of  hospit.ils  in  every  city, 
that  our  kindness  may  be  enjoyed  by  strangers,  not  only  of 
our  own  people,  but  of  those  who  are  in  need." — Vol.  lii.  pp. 
445  and  444. 


52  LECTURE    I. 


which   tests   the   wisdom   and   impartiality    of 
rulers. 

Upon  the  life  of  man  there  are  conflicting 
claims.  There  is  the  claim  of  an  urgent  present, 
but  when  we  have  devoted  our  thoughts  to  this, 
there  rises  up  the  awful  and  half-veiled  form  of 
a  no  less  urgent  future.  Men  have  dealt  in 
various  ways  with  these  rival  claimants.  '^  Live 
for  the  present^  the  future  is  unknown,"  is  the 
language  of  the  secularist.  "  Live  for  the  future, 
the  present  is  vanity,"  is  the  language  of  the 
religious  fanatic.  The  outcome  of  these  an- 
tagonistic rules  of  life  is  what  might  have  been 
expected.  ^'  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
we  die/'  is  the  verdict  of  the  one  ;  '^  Handle  not, 
nor  yet  taste,  nor  even  touch,"  is  the  conclusion 
of  the  other.  The  secularist  developes  into  a 
voluptuary;  the  fanatic  into  an  ascetic.  These 
opposite  developments  are  not  to  be  ignored,  for 
both  are  based  on  truth.  Both  have  a  measure 
of  right  in  them.  There  is  no  time  like  the 
present ;  yet  all  the  harvest  lies  in  the  future. 
The  Kingdom  of  Christ  was  looked  to  by  men  to 
reconcile  the  opposing  claims  of  the  present  and 
the  future.  Upon  them  Christ  gives  judgment, 
and  in  doing  so  He  ignores  the  rights  of  neither. 
"  Work  while  it  is  called  to-day."  Thus  does 
Christ  turn  the  stream  of  man's  energy  upon 


LECTURE    I.  53 


the  present.  "  The  night  cometh  when  no  man 
can  work^^."  Thus  does  He  turn  their  thoughts 
to  the  future.  Of  the  present  He  says — Do 
good :  work,  watch.  This  is  the  season  of 
labour ;  to-morrow  comes  the  harvest  of  fruit. 
The  Present  is  the  seed-time^  in  the  Future  we 
reap.  Throw  energy  into  the  present,  but  keep 
an  eye  on  the  future.  Let  your  oars  plunge 
boldly  into  the  waves  which  are  around  you,  but 
keep  your  rudder  straight  for  the  haven.  Live 
in  the  world,  but  always  with  an  aim  above  the 
world.  Thus  does  Christ  reconcile  what  man 
will  divorce :  the  ascetic  and  the  voluptuary 
miss  the  meaning  of  life.  Man  lives  in  a  present 
he  cannot  forego  ;  and  on  the  threshold  of  a 
future  he  cannot  ignore.  Christ  would  have 
men  neither  forego  nor  ignore.  The  way  to 
to-morrow  lies  through  to-day;  the  duties  of 
to-day  are  the  parents  of  to-morrow's  powers, 
and  the  ancestors  of  the  joys  which  will  dawn 
hereafter. 

But  not  only  upon  man's  attention  do  the 
present  and  the  future  press  their  imperious 
claims ;  but  the  government  of  the  world  is 
distracted  often  between  the  rival  claims  of  the 
individual   and   the  race.     The   theory  of  the 


2^  John  ix.  4. 


54  LECTtiEE    I. 


earlier  empires  preferred  the  interests  of  the 
individual;  the  growth  of  intelligence  has 
learned  to  prefer  the  interests  of  the  race.  In 
the  ideal  kingdom  the  rule,  which  w^as  for  the 
interest  of  all,  would  be  for  the  interest  of  each ; 
and  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  would  fail  of  its 
purpose  unless  it  had  a  message  for  man  as 
well  as  for  mankind,  and  for  mankind  as  w^ell 
as  man. 

Christianity  has  been  accused  of  caring 
nothing  for  the  race,  but  only  for  the  indi- 
vidual. This  seems  to  me  a  mistake.  The 
welfare  of  souls  and  the  welfare  of  humanity 
w^ere  alike  dear  to  Him.  But  His  method 
of  securing  the  welfare  of  the  race  differed 
from  the  methods  of  men.  Twice  Christ  re- 
fused to  be  a  king;  He  would  not  purchase 
a  sovereignty  on  payment  of  tribute  to  one 
single  evil  principle ;  He  would  not  ascend 
a  throne  which  was  founded  on  a  movement 
which  could  only  mean  the  ascendancy  of  one 
nation  over  the  world.  His  rule  would  have 
effected  great  social  benefits ;  but  He  refused  an 
immediate  sovereignty  that  He  might  win  a 
better  sovereignty  over  the  world.  He  refused 
to  reign  over  all  unless  He  might  first  reign  in 
each.  In  that  refusal  He  proclaimed  His 
method.      He    had    no    faith   in   reformations 


LECTURE    I.  55 


whicli  were  imposed  from  without.  Conquerors 
and  philanthropists — the  most  sternly  practical 
and  the  most  dreamy  of  men — have  always 
imagined  that  a  paradisaical  community  could 
be  formed  by  bringing  men  to  agree  to  unite 
themselves  in  some  ready-made  organisation  ; 
but  the  jplialanstenes  ^^  of  the  philanthropist  and 
the  "happy-family"  sort  of  empire  of  the  abso- 
lutist have  been  failures  ;  for  they  are  attempts 
to  solve  the  problem  in  the  wrong  way.  They 
are  efforts  to  heal  the  diseases  of  humanity  by  ex- 
ternal remedies  ;  they  work  from  the  circumfer- 
ence to  the  centre.  They  fail  who  hope  to  make 
men  happy  and  good  by  forcing  them  into  con- 
federacy. Coarse  and  brutal-minded  conquerors 
might  weld  men  together  by  the  clumsy  method 
of  coercion.  But  Christ  worked  upon  the  oppo- 
site method.  The  disease  was  in  tlie  individual ; 
the  reformation  must  commence  with  the  centre, 
that  it  might  spread  to  the  circumference :  like 
one  who  understood  the  problem,  He  refused  to 


*<*  The  name  given  to  a  social  organization  after  the  plan 
of  Charles  Fourier  :  it  was  the  supposed  Firm  Phalanx  of 
people  who  united  their  capital  and  energy  in  common  :  the 
building  where  all  the  members  dwelt  together  was  called  by 
the  same  name.  The  reader  of  Aurora  Leigh  will  remember 
Romney  Leigh's  enthusiasm  in  this  social  direction  : — 
"His  phalansteries  there,  his  speeches  here, 
His  pamphlets,  pleas  and  statements,  everywhere." 

P-93. 


56  LECTURE    1. 


work  from  without ;  He  would  work  from  with- 
in *^ ;  the  good  within  would  blossom  outwards  : 
He  sought  to  cleanse  the  system ;  for  thus  the 
painful  sores  on  the  surface  would  one  by  one 
disappear.    He  did  not  try  to  elevate  individuals 
through  society  first.     He  knew  that  the  eleva- 
tion of  society  could  only  be  effected  really  and 
enduringly  by  the  elevation  of  individuals  ;  then 
as  their  influence  spread^  the  moral  tone  would 
rise  and  react  upon  individuals,  for  the  moral 
level  of  society  is  the  average  moral  level  of  the 
persons  composing  it.     By  the  regeneration  of 
the  individual  then  He  would  regenerate  society. 
But  to  force  reformation  upon  unwilling  people 
and  upon  unripe  generations  was  to  lose  the 
moral  value  which  the  slow  dawning  of  higher 
ethical    conceptions  would  bring   to  the   race. 
The  method  might  be  slower  than  the  rougher 
and  readier  one  of  compulsion_,  but  it  was  surer, 
and  it  effected  more  completely  the  desired  social 
results.     Each  Christian  was  to  be  the  pioneer 
of  greater   progress,  the    centre    of  lights   the 
diffuser  of  the  preserving  influence  of  a  high 
moral  and  social  life.     Every  regenerated  soul 
became  in  the  highest  sense  a  philanthropist.   It 


"  All !  your  Fouriers  failed, 
Because  not  poets  enough  to  understand 
That  life  developes  from  within." — Aurora  Leigh,  p.  60. 


LECTURE   I.  57 


was  thus  the  good  cause  grew  and  the  moral 
atmosphere  was  relieved  of  the  pestilential  fogs 
which  a  corrupt  society  had  generated. 

He  surely  cannot  be  accused  of  caring  little 
for  the  race  who  loved  it  too  well,  and  knew  it 
too  well  to  attempt  to  influence  it,  even  for  its 
own  good,  by  means  other  than  those  which 
called  into  play  its  own  moral  sense  in  its  own 
education. 

But  neither  did  our  Master  forget  individuals. 
For  what  is  His  teaching?  Every  child  of  man 
has  an  Eternal  Father,  who  has  stretched  out  a 
hand  to  guide  him  through  the  intricate  and 
perplexing  paths  of  life.  To  all_,  He  who  is  the 
Son  of  Man  as  well  as  Son  of  God  has  come 
with  words  fitted  to  all  the  varied  needs  of 
sorrowing  and  sinful  hearts,  and  with  power  to 
remove  the  three-fold  mystery  and  pain  of  our 
life.  For  upon  all  of  us  lies  in  some  form  the 
three-fold  pain  of  life — the  pain  of  an  irrevocable 
past,  of  an  unsolaced  present,  and  of  an  uncertain 
future.  For  each  of  these  Christ  bears  in  His 
hand  the  fitting  remedy ;  and  in  touching  upon 
these  in  future  lectures  we  shall  see  the  adapta- 
tion of  Christ's  Kingdom  to  the  individual  wants 
of  man.  But  meanwhile  let  us  recall  the  ground 
we  have  travelled.  We  have  passed  rapidly 
over  the  surface  of  a  widespread  territory.     We 

E 


58  LECTURE   I. 


have  noted  the  varieties  of  its  external  features, 
the  gradations  of  climate,  and  the  rich  diversities 
of  its  produce  ;  we  have  beheld  its  lofty  ranges, 
its  broad  plains,  and  its  verdure-clad  valleys  ;  we 
have  asked  what  single  stream  can  bestow  a 
treasury  of  waters  full  enough  and  diffusive 
enough  to  preserve  in  life  and  vigour  such  a 
noble  variety  of  produce  spread  over  such  an 
ever-altering  land.  We  have  seen  that  there  is 
a  river  of  water  of  life,  unsealed  by  the  pierced 
hand  of  Jesus,  which  will  flow  through  every 
channel  that  men  will  dig  for  it,  which  runs 
into  the  little  valleys,  which  makes  the  pastures 
soft  with  its  touch,  and  bids  the  hills  rejoice  on 
every  side.  This  is  the  river  which  makes  glad 
the  city  of  God  ;  this  is  the  river  of  God  which 
is  full  of  water;  this  is  that  stream  which 
Ezekiel  saw  spreading  through  the  wilderness, 
and  turning  its  barrenness  into  beauty;  this  is 
that  living  water  which  a  man  may  drink  and 
never  thirst;  this  is  that  stream  which  flows 
to-day  close  to  the  oracle  of  God,  and  still  has 
power  to  heal  and  to  refresh  the  wounded  and 
weary  spirits  of  men.  If  it  seem  at  times  in- 
sipid and  tasteless,  the  salt  of  a  little  moral 
earnestness,  or  better,  the  salt  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  given  in  answer  to  prayer,  will  heal  the 
waters  and  restore  the  verdure  of  holiness  to  a 


LECTURE   I.  59 


barren  life.  This  is  the  stream  of  life  which 
seems  at  times  to  disappear  beneath  the  flood 
and  sea  of  human  history,  but  carries  yet  its 
unpolluted  course  to  rise  up  in  some  new  land  or 
age  and  cheer  earth's  exiles  with  a  sweet  liquid 
music  that  tells  Christians  of  their  home.  The 
power  of  that  life-stream  is  not  gone  :  it  makes 
music  at  our  feet ;  but  we  must  stoop  if  we 
would  drink  of  that  brook  and  go  on  our  way 
with  uplifted  hearts.  For  it  is  not  with  pomp 
or  shout,  with  profound  knowledge,  or  erudition, 
or  culture,  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  comes  ;  not 
with  observation  or  outward  show,  not  in  cere- 
monial however  splendid,  not  in  sermons  how- 
ever oratorical,  not  in  orthodoxy  however  dog- 
matic^ not  in  modern  symposiums,  though  the 
voices  we  hear  may  sound  like  a  revival  of  the 
sad  eloquence  of  the  Gironde ;  not  in  these  will 
the  Kingdom  of  God  be  found.  If  you  ask, 
where,  if  not  here  ?  the  answer  comes  back 
across  the  centuries.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
is  an  everlasting  Kingdom.  His  Kingdom 
ruleth  over  all;  but  if  that  Kingdom  is  to  be 
realised  by  you,  the  Kingdom  of  God,  lo  !  it 
must  be  within  you;  and  if  not  within  you^  then 
though  it  is  everywhere,  it  is  for  you — nowhere. 


E  2 


LECTUEE   II 


"  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke  xvii.  ai. 

The  wide  spread  of  Christianity,  her  power 
to  adjust  herself  to  advancing  ages  and  to  re- 
concile rival  claims,  are  witnesses  of  her  fitness 
to  be  the  helper  of  man.  It  is  said  that  Richard 
Baxter  in  reviewing  his  life  related  that  in  his 
early  years  the  miraculous  evidences  for  Chris- 
tianity influenced  him  most ;  in  his  middle  life 
the  prophetic  and  historical ;  but  in  his  later 
years,  the  fitness  of  Christianity  to  give  rest 
to  his  spirit  was  to  him  the  most  convincing 
evidence. 

A  similar  progressive  estimation  of  the  rela- 
tive force  of  evidences  may  perhaps  be  traced 
in  the  history  of  Christendom  :  in  its  youth, 
perhaps  the  miraculous  appealed  to  it  most 
strongly;  in  its  middle  life,  the  wide  range  of 
prophecy  and  history;  in  this,  its  eventide,  it 
seems  more  disposed  to  rest  in  its  moral  fitness 
for  man.     But  this  must  be  a  fitness  for  man 


LECTURE   II.  61 


as  he  is,  not  merely  for  man  as  he  is  painted  ; 
for  man  with  thoughts  now  high  and  now  low, 
for  man  with  his  moral  weaknesses^  his  strong 
affections,  his  dark  faults  and  his  lofty  hopes. 
It  is  for  us  to-day  to  consider  this  fitness  with 
reference  to  moral  evil  in  man.  We  shall  see 
that  her  work  must  be  with  individual  man 
when  she  undertakes  the  task  of  moral  regene- 
ration. 

I.  The  main  work  of  Christianity  is  with  in- 
dividuals. It  has  been  said  that  Christianity 
cared  nothing  for  the  race,  but  only  for  the 
individual^.  The  accusation  is  not  in  itself 
true,  and  yet  it  contains  a  certain  truth.  It  is 
not  in  itself  true  :  Christianity  did  care  for  the 
race.  Christ  Himself  set  the  example  to  His 
Church.  Twice  I  read  that  the  Lord  of  Life 
shed  tears  while  upon  earth.  Once  it  was  at 
the  grave  of  an  individual ;  once  it  was  over 
the  opening  grave  of  a  nation.  He  who  wept 
over  Lazarus  could  weep  over  Jerusalem.  Those 
tears  of  His  are  the  witnesses  that  He,  who  had 
a  heart  for  the  secret  sorrow  of  souls,  had  a 
heart  also  for  those  wider  troubles  which  afflict 
a  people.     Those  tears  were  the  prelude  of  la- 

*  "  Christianity  cared  nothing  for  the  species,  and  had  only 
the  individual  in  its  eye  and  mind."  Feuerbach,  quoted  in 
Eaton's  Bampion  Lectures,  p.  104. 


62  LECTUBE   II. 


bours  which  Christian  men  undertook  on  behalf 
of  races ;  for  the  genius  of  Christianity  is  on 
the  side  of  all  those  movements  which  tend  to 
bring  peace  and  freedom  to  the  world ;  the  foe 
of  anarchy,  she  is  the  advocate  of  liberty;  her 
sons  laboured  for  emancipation ;  her  sons  re- 
buked the  tyranny  of  princes ;  the  foe  of  cowardly 
w^eakness,  she  is  yet  the  advocate  of  peace  ;  and 
it  will  be  from  her  hands  that  men  will  receive 
the  boon  which  makes  wars  to  cease  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth  ^.  She  fosters  principles  which 
lie  for  a  season  dormant  in  the  world  :  she  waits 
her  time  :  she  watches  by  the  icebound  fountains 
till  the  temperature  of  the  moral  sense  rises  and 
breaks  the  seal  and  lets  them  loose.  The  accu- 
sation that  she  cares  nothing  for  the  race  is 
not  true. 

But  there  is  a  truth  in  it.  The  individual 
was  the  chief  object  of  Christ's  care.  To  Him 
who  moved  through  earth  refreshing  the  weary, 
the  sick,  and  the  toiling,  the  sorrow  of  the 
individual  appealed,  and  to  the  relief  of  these 
He  turned  His  first  thought.     And  there  were 

^  "  Centuries  on  centuries  will  be  required  to  discipline  fully 
the  human  faculties  that  are  to  grow  into  the  faith  thus  pre- 
pared for  them."  Hutton's  Essays,  vol.  i.  p.  122,  quoted  in 
Eaton's  Permanence  of  Christianity,  p.  24.  Mr.  Eaton  well 
remarks  that  one  of  the  tests  of  the  vitality  of  any  religion  is 
the  *'  power  of  assimilating  healthfully  the  altered  conditions 
of  advancing:  civilisation." 


LECTURE    II.  63 


reasons  for  this.  He  adopted  a  method  different 
from  that  of  the  conqueror  and  the  sentimental 
philanthropist.  It  is  singular  how  men  of  totally- 
opposite  mould  of  character  adopt  the  same 
method;  both  the  ambitious  ruler  and  the 
benevolent  dreamer  have  thought  that  by  weld- 
ing men  together  in  an  ideal  community  they 
could  attain  their  aim.  But  the  result  has 
always  been  failure.  Neither  the  barl;aric  splen- 
dours of  the  East  with  its  sumptuous  tyrannies, 
nor  the  imperial  energy  of  Rome  with  its  in- 
exorable yoke,  nor  the  mild  and  well-meant 
absolutism  of  the  Utopianist  could  really  bind 
together  the  social  fabric.  The  witness  of  all 
history  is  that  the  bond  must  be  supplied  from 
within  ;  it  must  be  the  allegiance  of  loyal  hearts, 
of  common  sympathies,  of  congenial  aspirations 
which  alone  can  cement  the  national  or  im- 
perial structure.  This  Christ  knew;  and,  there- 
fore. He  sought  His  Kingdom  not  through  ex- 
ternal force,  but  through  inner  conviction ;  not 
through  magnificent  displays  of  power,  but  by 
arousing  united  affections  and  harmonious  aims. 
From  this  centre  He  might  influence  the  cir- 
cumference; from  the  circumference  He  could 
not  hope  to  reach  the  centre.  It  was  a  wise 
policy  which  sought  to  reach  the  race  through 
the  individual. 


64  LECTURE   II. 


But  there  was  a  personal  reason  also.  All 
progress  towards  wide-spread  social  happiness 
must  in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  slow.  It  takes 
generations  before  men  perceive  that  their  pas- 
sions are  hindering  the  advance  of  the  world. 
Only  one  by  one  are  those  great  and  much- 
needed  reforms  adopted  which  secure  personal 
safety,  personal  freedom,  personal  happiness.  It 
was  long,  very  long,  before  the  sanctity  of  human 
life  was  realised,  and  the  sin  of  sacrificing  it  to 
a  fictitious  sense  of  honour  was  perceived,  but 
now,  except  where  political  passions  rob  even 
great  men.  of  their  better  judgment,  duelling 
is  reckoned  ridiculous  as  well  as  disgraceful ; 
and  more  slowly  still  will  it  dawn  upon  men's 
moral  sense  that  war  is  as  foolish  a  method  of 
settling  disputes  as  duelling.  Thus  the  progress 
of  social  reforms  must  be  slow,  and  they  are 
usually  the  outcome  of  some  great  social  or 
political  commotion  ;  but  meanwhile  individual 
life  is  sacrificed,  and  individual  interest  is  for- 
gotten. As  at  the  Pool  of  Bethesda,  the  angel 
of  reform  descends  and  stirs  the  stagnant  water 
of  human  opinion,  and  then  some  single  boon 
is  won  for  the  world :  he  who  steps  down  first 
after  the  troubling  of  the  water  secures  the 
benefit.  But  the  sufferers  still  lie  round  the 
Pool,  unblessed ;  there  are  multitudes  who  can^ 


LECTUEE  ir.  65 


not  endure  to  struggle  in  the  great  arena  of 
conflict  to  snatch  at  their  brothers'  expense  the 
reluctantly  conceded  boon ;  the  individual  is 
thrust  aside;  the  good  of  the  race  or  of  the  com- 
munity must  be  secured.  It  is  right ;  but  the 
sufferers  who  lie  looking  on  in  pain  have  hearts, 
and  hopes,  and  throbbing  sorrows  and  fears; 
they  can  feel,  and  they  can  love  :  are  these  to 
die  without  help  or  hope  ?  Politicians  must 
perhaps  sacrifice  the  individual  to  the  race ; 
they  can  only  consider  the  general  weal ;  but  a 
religion  surely  must  carry  a  message  to  such. 
Philosophers  may  ignore  individual  sorrow ;  I 
speak  it  with  reverence  when  I  say— Philoso- 
phers may;  but  God  dare  not — and  therefore 
among  the  individual  sufferers  went  Jesus,  with 
a  word  and  a  blessing  for  those  who  could  not 
grasp  the  struggled-for  benefit  of  life,  with 
the  blessing  of  health  and  hope  for  the  sick 
and  the  sad^. 

But  there  is  another  reason  also.     And  this 
arose  from  the  view  Christ  took  of  life's  troubles. 

3  "  Observe, — it  had  not  much 

Consoled  the  race  of  mastodons  to  know, 
Before  they  went  to  fossil,  that  anon 
Their  place  would  quicken  with  the  elephant : 
They  were  not  elephants,  but  mastodons ; 
And  I,  a  man,  as  men  are  now,  and  not 
As  men  may  be  hereafter,  feel  with  men 
In  the  agonising  present." — Aurora  Leigh,  p.  54. 


66  LECTURE   II. 


He  recognised  sorrow  in  its  various  forms  :  His 
sigh  broke  forth  at  the  sight  of  withered  limbs, 
and  palsied  hands,  and  sightless  eyes.  But  dark 
as  these  troubles  were,  they  were  not  to  Him  so 
dark  as  moral  evil.  A  withered  hand  was  a 
sad  sight,  but  a  withered  heart  was  worse ;  a 
maimed  body  provoked  the  pity,  but  degraded 
characters  and  diseased  aflPections  were  sadder 
spectacles.  Death  was  painful ;  but  sin  was 
more  so.  Over  the  one.  He  wept ;  over  the 
other,  He  sweat  great  drops  of  blood  ;  for  a 
Magdalene  was  a  more  pitiable  sight  than  a 
paralytic,  and  a  Judas  more  terrible  than  a  leper. 
But  this  moral  malady  must  be  touched  by 
reaching  the  individual;  it  lay  too  deep  for 
statutes  or  decrees  or  reforms  to  move.  And 
thus,  because  the  moral  evil  was  the  greatest 
foe  of  human  life  and  happiness,  Christ  made 
the  individual  His  first  care  ;  and  sent  forth  a 
Gospel,  not  only  for  all  nations  but  to  every 
creature  ;  to  regenerate  man  became  His  first 
and  highest  aim,  to  combat  moral  evil  in  man 
His  grand  object. 

We  may  notice,  then,  that  no  estimate  of 
Christianity  will  or  can  be  a  just  one  which 
ignores  this  fundamental  aim  of  Christ.  We 
ask  that  Christianity  shall  be  judged  as  other 
movements  are,   by  their  aim ;    and  we  affirm 


LECTURE    II.  67 


that  it  is  manifestly  unfair  to  make  some  other 
supposed  end  or  aim  the  standard  by  which  to 
try  her.  We  always  judge  things  by  the  pur- 
pose for  which  they  are  designed.  We  judge 
of  the  eye  by  its  power  of  seeing,  of  the  ear 
by  its  power  of  hearing.  We  judge  of  the 
telescope  by  its  power  to  reveal  to  us  distant 
landscapes  of  far-off  worlds  :  we  judge  of  the 
microscope  by  its  power  to  display  to  us  the 
subtle  work  of  darkly-veiled  nature  beneath  our 
feet.  But  we  do  not  judge  these  by  what  lies 
outside  their  purpose.  We  do  not  ask  the 
microscope  to  show  us  the  rings  of  Saturn,  nor 
the  telescope  to  reveal  to  us  the  beauties  of  a 
butterfly^s  wing.  We  limit  our  expectations  by 
the  aim  or  purpose  of  the  instrument.  Each 
thing  is  perfect  as  it  fulfils  its  end  ^ :  our  criti- 
cisms outside  that  end  must  be  irrelevant.  It 
is  as  wise  as  looking  for  scientific  accuracy  in  a 
fairy  tale,  or  dramatic  power  in  a  proposition  of 
Euclid.  We  should  deem  it  elaborate  trifling 
to  exert  our  ingenuity  in  pointing  out  the  as- 
tronomical blunders  of  the  "  Arabian  Nights," 
or  complain  of  Spenser's  "Faerie  Queene"  be- 
cause the  poet  did  not  give  us  the  data  for 
calculating  the  transit  of  Venus.     The  aim  or 

*  "  Each  thing,  said  the  sage  who  taught  me,  is  perfect  if 
it  can  fulfil  its  end." — Lessing's  Philotas. 


68  LECTURE  ir. 


intention  in  view  limits  the  riglit  of  criticism 
to  that  aim.  So  none  can  fairly  judge  of  Chris- 
tianity and  her  fitness  for  her  work  who  will 
not  realise  that  she  puts  upon  the  forefront  of 
her  advancing  standard  that  her  war  is  not 
against  institutions  or  men,  but  against  sin 
wherever  found,  and  sin  therefore  most  and 
chiefest  where  Christ  warned  us  its  deadly  roots 
were  planted,  in  the  heart  of  man,  whence  Christ 
would  fain  expel  the  foe  and  establish  that 
kingdom  which  now  as  always  is  a  kingdom 
within  you. 

II.  The  view  which  Christianity  takes  of 
life's  troubles^  then,  is  one  which  puts  moral  evil 
in  the  fronts  as  the  worst  and  most  dangerous 
foe.  This  view  has  been  questioned.  Three 
objections  have  been  urged.  It  has  been  said 
(i)  that  the  power  of  moral  evil  has  been  ex- 
aggerated ;  (ii)  that  the  conception  of  it  involves 
fictitious  notions;  and  (iii)  that  the  enterprise 
which  assails  it  is  Quixotic. 

We  may  freely  concede  the  right  to  criticise 
the  aim  of  Christianity.  It  is  not  indeed  fair 
in  estimating  the  force  and  value  of  the  Christian 
religion  to  ignore  that  her  efforts  are  mainly 
directed  against  moral  evil ;  but  it  is  perfectly 
legitimate  to  open  the  question  whether  this 
aim  is  in   itself  a  desirable  one.     We  may  be 


LECTURE   II.  69 


assured  that  the  machinery  is  perfectly  adapted 
to  its  purpose,  but  we  may  fairly  question  whe- 
ther the  purpose  itself  is  one  worth  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  time  and  force  involved.  For 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  misplaced  ingenuity 
in  the  world ;  the  ingenuity  is  not  condemned, 
though  the  purpose  to  which  it  is  employed 
may  be  so.  The  implement  of  a  burglar  may 
be  well  fitted  for  his  work ;  but  we  have  the 
right  to  disapprove  of  the  work  itself.  We  may 
criticise  the  aim  as  well  as  the  execution.  A 
man  may  be  a  brilliant  colourist,  and  capable 
of  producing  the  most  astonishing  combination 
of  effective  contrasts ;  but  it  is  still  open  to  us 
to  doubt  whether  in  limiting  his  aim  to  so  poor 
a  result  he  is  fulfilling  the  highest  purpose  of 
God's  great  gift  of  art.  We  freely  concede  the 
right  to  criticise  the  aim  of  Christianity  in 
waging  war  against  moral  evil. 

(i)  Christianity,  it  has  been  declared,,  by  ex- 
aggerating the  power  of  moral  evil  stereotypes 
morbid  ideas,  and  darkens  man's  life  with  an 
unkindly  needless  shadow.  The  whole  earth  is 
full  of  beauty  and  sunshine :  we  lie  in  the  sweet 
deep  shadow  of  a  grove  of  trees  :  we  watch  the 
morning  sunbeams  wandering  elf-like  along  the 
grass,  or  glancing  on  the  ripples  of  the  brook 
that  keeps  sweet  and  melodious  accompaniment 


70  LECTURE   II. 


to  the  music  of  the  birds  among  the  boughs; 
and  upon  our  calm  and  happy  retreat  the  gaunt 
shadow  of  some  ascetic  Christian  falls  ^,  and  shuts 
out  the  sunlight  from  heart  as  well  as  life  by 
telling  us  that  we  are  sinners,  the  victims  of 
moral  evil.  I  admit  it  is  hard  to  be  disturbed 
in  so  quiet  and  peaceful  a  resting-place.  I 
admit  that  Christians  who  have  taken  an  in- 
verted view  of  their  Master's  teaching  have 
written  and  spoken  as  though  the  fair  things 
of  earth  were  wicked^  and  trees  and  flowers 
and  sunshine  were  carnally  -  minded  vanities. 
But  we  must  not  make  Christ,  who  blessed  the 
trees  and  flowers,  and  gave  them  fresh  voice 
and  fuller  teaching,  and  made  them  whisper 
of  the  Father  who  clothed  the  grass  and  fed 
the  birds,  responsible  for  the  distorted  thoughts 
of  those  whose  tastes  have  been  so  far  depraved 
that   they  can   find  no  joy   in   the    works    of 


5  "  Sin,  Lord  Allen,  said  Mr.  Storks,  is  a  word  that  has 
helped  to  retard  moral  and  social  progress  more  than  any- 
thing. Nothing  is  good  or  bad,  but  thinking  makes  it  so ; 
and  the  superstitious  and  morbid  way  in  which  a  number  of 
innocent  things  have  been  banned  as  sin,  has  caused  more 
than  half  the  tragedies  of  the  world.  Science  will  establish 
an  entirely  new  basis  of  morality;  and  the  sunlight  of  rational 
approbation  will  shine  on  many  a  thing  hitherto  overshadowed 
by  the  curse  of  a  hypothetical  God." — New  Republic,  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Mallock,  pp.  64,  65.  It  may  be  said  that  this  is 
caricature;  but  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  find  opinions 
substantially  the  same. 


LECTURE   II.  71 


God.  It  was  not  evil  in  things  which  Christ 
assailed ;  but  evil  in  man,  and  the  moral  evil 
which  perverts  and  pollutes  God's  richest  and 
purest  blessings.  And  I  am  prepared  to  main- 
tain that  Christianity  has  done  wisely  and  well 
in  giving  this  prominence  to  moral  evil,  and 
teaching  us  to  see  in  it  the  real  and  most 
dangerous  foe  of  life.  And  for  this  I  shall 
advance  some  reasons.  Christianity  is  right  in 
giving  this  prominence  to  moral  evil,  because 
it  is  a  subtle  and  insidious  power.  For  what 
is  the  Christian  idea  of  sin  ?  It  is  the  trans- 
gression of  the  law  :  it  is  the  open  violation  of 
the  decorums  of  life,  of  those  restraints  which 
by  all  admission  preserve  the  peace  of  society. 
In  this  we  have  little  difficulty.  But  Christ 
points  us  further  back.  The  outward  life  may 
be  unpolluted  :  men  may  be  great  and  excellent : 
their  lives  may  be  full  of  benevolent  exertions 
on  behalf  of  their  fellow-men,  and  yet  the  inner 
and  hidden  currents  may  be  all  wrong.  The 
motives  may  be  polluted ;  the  decent  restraints 
of  life  may  'keep  back  lusts  from  violent  out- 
break, but  they  may  still  be  aglow  with  hidden 
fires  :  the  heart  may  be  wrong,  though  the  life 
may  seem  to  be  right.  It  is  not  merely  Chris- 
tianity that  teachete  us  this.  The  observers  of 
human  life  and  character  pierce  below  the  spe- 


72  LECTURE   II. 


cious  surface  and  find  the  evil  beneath.  They 
remind  us  that  the  most  illustrious  patriot- 
ism may  be  the  offspring  of  the  most  paltry 
ambition ;  ^'  and  a  modern  and  justly  ho- 
noured novelist  has  reminded  us  that  the  fear  of 
social  ostracism  and  not  any  very  high  standard 
of  virtue  keeps  many  a  man  from  petty  pilfering  6. 
What  is  this  but  telling  us  that  the  moral  evil 
may  be  uncured  though  the  life  gives  us  no 
clue  to  its  presence.  It  is  a  subtle  foe,  this 
moral  evil.  It  is  not  a  symptom ;  it  is  a  dis- 
ease ;  we,  like  men  ignorant  of  medical  science, 
have  our  attention  naturally  drawn  to  the  more 
conspicuous  symptoms :  the  discoloured  skin, 
the  loathsome  sore^  these  catch  our  eye :  the 
well-skilled  doctor  sees  in  these  the  tokens  of 
a  virus  in  the  blood,  and  turns  our  thought 
to  the  root  of  the  disorder.  So  does  Christianity 
with  regard  to  sin.  She  condemns  acts,  but 
she  asks  us  to  see  in  men's  acts  the  tokens  of 
a  poisonous  tendency  in  their  nature.  This  is 
the  reason  why  St.  James  speaks  of  a  man  who 
is  guilty  of  one  breach  of  the  law  as  guilty  of 

^  "You  don't  think  he  could  do  anything  mean,  or  dis- 
honourable?" "I  think  his  own  good  opinion  of  himself 
would  guard  against  that,"  said  Harding  with  a  laugh  ;  "self- 
esteem,  and  not  any  very  high  notion  of  morality,  keeps 
many  a  man  from  picking  a  pocket." — Madcap  Violet,  by 
Mr.  W.  Black,  pp.  120,  121. 


LECTURE    II. 


all :  the  one  act  is  like  the  single  black  spot 
upon  the  chest  or  cheek  which  betrays  the  subtle 
working  of  life's  most  awful  poison.  Christianity 
does  right  in  putting  this  moral  evil  into  pro- 
minence because  it  is  so  subtle  a  foe  to  men. 
But  she  is  right  also  because  this  subtle  foe 
is  the  most  fertile  cause  of  earth's  misery. 
Religion,  history,  literature,  science  all  will 
witness  to  this. 

Common  experience  will  witness  that  the  real 
pain  comes  from  within.  Take  a  single  simple 
fact.  What  does  all  life  teach  us  but  that  the 
real  sorrow  is  that  which  springs  from  the  heart 
of  man  himself?  There  are  shadows  in  life 
which  men  speak  of  with  pain.  Physical  suffer- 
ing, disappointed  expectations^  love  snatched 
away.  These  are  bitter,  very  bitter  ;  the  words 
of  woe  rise  from  every  poet's  lip  ;  when  he  sings^ 
he  sings  of  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit — of 
the  inevitable  shadow  of  multiform  trouble  which 
haunts  the  paths  of  human  life.  Man  is  crowned 
with  gifts  of  sorrow — 


Before  the  beginning  of  years 

There  came  to  the  making  of  man  : 

Grief  with  a  gift  of  tears, 
Time  with  a  glass  that  ran. 

But  the  pain  which  is  within  is  harder  to  bear 
than  the   pain  without.     Do  we   doubt   this? 

F 


74  LECTURE    II. 


Take  a  simple  fact  of  experience.  No  amount 
of  happy  circumstances  can  in  themselves  make 
men  happy ;  no  loss  of  them  can  of  themselves 
make  men  unhappy;  man  is  proved  to  have 
sources  of  happiness  and  unhappiness  inde- 
pendent of  facts  outside  himself.  There  have 
been  men  dowered  with  every  gift_,  mnk,  wealth, 
intellect  and  power ;  yet  not  one  or  all  of  these 
could  chase  the  care-lines  from  the  brow.  It 
is  utterly  insipid  to  talk  like  this.  You  are 
impatient  with  me  because  I  repeat  what  is  so 
true :  we  all  know  that  the  splendour  of  his 
palace,  the  beauty  of  his  harem,  the  wealth  of 
his  kingdom  and  the  vastness  of  his  knowledge 
could  not  make  Solomon  happy:  we  know  that 
there  have  been  men  endowed  with  colossal 
genius  who  have  most  sadly  declared  that  they 
could  count  their  happy  days  upon  their  fingers  '^. 
External  circumstances  cannot  give  happiness 
to  an  unquiet  spirit.  But  reverse  the  picture, 
and  we  see  those  robbed  of  all  outward  mi- 
nistrations of  happiness    and  yet  able  to  keep 

'  "I  have  been  esteemed  a  man  specially  favoured  by 
fortune  ;  and  I  neither  wish  to  complain  nor  to  murmur  at 
the  coarse  of  my  life.  But,  in  reality,  it  has  been  nothing 
but  pains  and  labour,  and  I  may  truly  say,  that  during  my 
seventy -five  years  I  have  not  had  four  weeks  of  real  pleasure. 
It  has  been  the  perpetual  rolling  of  a  stone  which  has  to  be 
picked  up  again  and  again." — Goethe,  Conversations  with 
Eckennann. 


LECTURE    II.  75 


a  deep  and  abiding  calm  within  the  lake  of 
their  heart.  It  is  from  within  that  the  dis- 
turbing* fires  arise  :  it  is  within  us  the  shadows 
lie.  which  no  outward  cheer  can  charm  away: 
it  is  within  us  the  sunlight  dwells  which  no 
sorrow  or  pain  can  ever  fully  or  finally  over- 
shadow. It  is  the  inner  power  of  moral  evil 
which  makes  the  heart  fretful.  Do  you  ask 
more  impartial  evidence?  Exaggerated  self- 
love  is  written  down  by  a  wise  and  able 
medical^  man  as  one  of  the  causes  of  that  mental 
care  which,  and  not  any  real  hard  mental  work, 
is  a  fertile  cause  of  insanity.  History  proves 
that  the  true  disturbing  causes  of  public  happi- 
ness lie  in  moral  evil.  Where  do  the  vastest 
troubles  spring  from  ?  Not  from  the  volcano  or 
the  earthquake,  but  from  that  which  devastates 
more  than  the  volcano  and  overthrows  more 
than  the  earthquake,  the  tremendous  passions 
of  men.  When  the  sacred  seer  saw  the  many- 
headed  beast  which  w^as  the  symbol  of  all  man- 
degrading  power,  he  beheld   it   rise   from  the 


^  "When  persons  are  said  to  have  gone  insane  or  to  have 
committed  suicide,  from  mental  overwork,  the  truth  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  if  not  in  all  cases,  is  that  anxieties  and 
apprehensions,  disappointed  ambition,  envies  and  jealousies, 
the  wounds  of  an  exaggerated  self-love,  or  similar  heartaches, 
have  been  the  real  causes  of  their  breakdown." — Dr.  Henry 
Maudsley,  EesponsihiUty  in  Mental  Disease,  p.  299. 

F  2, 


76  LECTTJEE    II. 


waves  of  the  sea,  the  fit  emblems  of  that  mad- 
ness of  the  people  out  of  which  most  despotisms 
have  grown.  When  a  historian  whom  none 
will  suspect  of  partiality  or  a  fondness  for  Chris- 
tian ideas  took  a  survey  of  the  great  and  brilliant 
epochs  of  history^  and  showed  us  the  golden 
ages  of  the  world — the  golden  age  of  Greece, 
glorious  with  its  teachers  and  its  artists — with 
Aristotle  and  Plato,  Apelles  and  Phidias — the 
golden  age  of  Rome,  the  age  of  Caesar  and  of 
Cicero,  of  Lucretius  and  of  Horace — the  golden 
age  of  Florence,  with  its  architects  and  its  poets, 
with  Pico  and  Brunelleschi — the  golden  age  of 
France  with  Eacine  and  Corneille,  wdth  Bossuet 
and  Bourdaloue— he  closed  his  pictures  with 
the  sad  reflection — All  ages  resemble  one  an- 
other in  the  v/ickedness  of  men.  When  a 
greater  historian  than  Voltaire  took  up  his  pen 
and  gave  to  the  world  his  calm  and  philoso- 
phical history  of  Greece^,  he  told  us  in  eff'ect 
that  the  worst  trouble  from  which  Athens  suf- 
fered was  the  want  of  moral  integrity  among 
her  public  men  ;  for  he  related  that  uprightness 
of  character  was  more  valued  than  great  abilities, 
for  this  quality  was  rare. 

Literature  proves  the  same.     It  is  moral  evil 


Grote,  History  of  Greece. 


LECTURE    II.  77 


in  man  that  the  dramatist  and  novelist  acknow- 
ledge give  them  the  power  and  right  to  speak. 
It  is  against  moral  evil  in  man  that  the  satirist 
directs  his  sarcasm  ;  it  is  moral  weakness  in 
man  that  the  comedian  exhibits  to  our  ridicule  ; 
it  is  moral  evil  in  man  that  the  tragic  writei- 
unfolds  to  us  in  more  awful  aspects.  One  of 
your  own  sons  has  told  us — '^  The  voice  of  law 
addresses  us  even  from  Athens.  There  is  a 
stern  and  dark  side  to  the  Greek  view  of  life. 
The  '  Prometheus '  and  the  '  Seven  Ages  of 
Thebes'  contain  a  'natural  testimony  of  the  soul' 
to  the  reality  of  sin  and  the  inevitable  penalty 
which  it  carries  in  itself,  and  to  the  need  which 
man  has  of  a  Divine  deliverer  to  check  and  con- 
trol the  consequences  of  violated  law^^."  I  take 
up  a  popular  newspaper  ^^  and  I  find  the  ac- 
knowledgment— "  It  is  difficult  to  see  where 
the  dramatist  is  to  find  materials,  if  not  in 
breaches  of  the  moral  and  social  law,  tragic  in 
their  consequences,  ludicrous  in  their  incidental 
aspects.  Peoj^le  who  keep  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  ten  commandments  do  not  furnish  any 
very  promising  dramatis  personse  for  either 
comedy  or  tragedy." 

Philosophers    have    noticed   the   same.     The 

"  Prof.  Westcott,  ^schylus  as  a  Religious  Teacher,  Con- 
temjjorary  Revieiv,  vol.  iii.  p.  373.  "■  The  World. 


78  LECTURE    TI. 


manj-lieaded  heart  of  evil  in  man  was  a  subject 
of  Plato^s  reflections ;  the  natural  love  men  have 
for  the  lie  itself  gave  food  for  thought  to  Bacon  ; 
and  the  philosophical  poet  of  France  remarked 
that  man  was  like  ice  to  truth  and  a  flame  for 
falsehood  ^2. 

Religion  witnesses  the  same.  It  is  no  matter 
in  this  whether  we  cite  in  evidence  true  religion 
or  false,  because  the  witness  of  the  less  en- 
lightened creeds  is  only  the  inarticulate  ac- 
knowledgment of  that  which  a  higher  faith 
freely  admits.  Let  the  early  and  degraded 
religions  speak ;  and  they  tell  you  that  there 
is  that  in  man  which  they  feel  needs  to  be 
driven  away :  they  speak  of  purgations,  lustra- 
tions, of  bathing  in  consecrated  streams,  of 
lacerating  and  subduing  the  offending  flesh. 
What  did  it  all  mean?  Too  often  the  wor- 
shippers had  little  knowledge  of  deep  moral 
need,  but  all  this  anxiety,  all  these  cleansings, 

*^  Mr,  Buckle,  who  declares  that  there  is  more  of  virtue 
than  of  vice  in  men,  yet  admits  that  "whatever  may  be  the 
case  with  individuals,  it  is  certain  that  the  majority  of  men 
find  an  extreme  difficulty  in  loncf  resisting  temptation.  And 
when  the  temptation  comes  to  them  in  tlie  shape  of  honour 
and  emoluments,  they  are  too  often  ready  to  profess  the 
dominant  opinions  and  abandon,  not  indeed  their  belief,  but 
the  external  marks  by  whicli  that  belief  is  made  public. 
Everybody  who  takes  this  step  is  a  hypocrite,  and  every 
government  which  encourages  this  step  to  be  taken  is  an 
abettor  of  hyj^ocrisy  and  a  creator  of  hypoci'ites.*' 


LECTURE    II.  79 


were  witnesses  to  some  ancient  instinct  that 
there  was  an  evil  in  man  which  needed  to  be 
cleansed,  and  which  was  a  fertile  cause  of  human 
misery.  Saintliness  proclaims  the  same.  If 
you  turn  to  enlightened  men,  you  find  a  clearer 
witness — and  the  witness  is  one  which  is  en- 
titled to  be  heard.  We  give  a  higher  credence 
to  those  who  have  turned  their  attention  to 
the  special  subject  on  which  we  seek  informa- 
tion. We  take  a  lawyer's  opinion  on  a  law 
question;  we  rely  on  the  doctor's  opinion  on 
a  medical  question;  their  special  training  and 
attention  entitles  their  opinion  to  a  higher 
place  than  that  which  we  accord  to  men 
who  have  never  had  any  professional  educa- 
tion. It  is  in  the  same  spirit  that  we  should 
interrogate  the  saints  of  the  earth.  The  men 
who  have  made  holiness  their  study  and  de- 
voted their  attention  to  the  eradication  of  sin 
are  entitled  to  be  heard  on  the  subject  ^^.     I  am 

^^  "And  is  it  not  just  tliey  who  have  made  the  greatest 
advances  upon  the  path  of  morality  and  sanctification  who 
most  lament  the  distance  which  still  separates  them  from 
their  goal?" — Luthardt,  Lectures  on  Fundamental  Truths  of 
Christianity,  p.  33.  The  same  writer  in  another  work  {Saving 
Truths,  pp.  344,  &c.)  gives  the  acknowledgment  of  Jakobi, 
"It  is  very  easy  to  do  all  kinds  of  good,  and  it  is  always  a 
pleasure  to  act  nobly.  But  to  live  without  sin,  without  trans- 
gression— how  difficult,  but  how  surpassing  all  else !  To  avoid 
evil  demands  powers  of  quite  another  kind,  for  this  the  whole 
man  must  collect  all  hi^  strength,  must  exert  himself  offceji 


80  LECTURE   II. 


not  speaking"  of  casuists,  who  reduce  sin  to  a 
science  and  pride  themselves  on  a  morbid  ana- 
tomy of  unwholesome  subjects  ;  I  mean  simple 
and  holy  men  who  have  been  the  salt  of  the 
earth  ;  and  when  I  hear  them  bewailing,  not 
the  troubles  of  earth,  not  their  losses,  not  their 
sufferings,  but  their  sins,  I  think  that  that 
must  be  evil  which  these  who  are  so  holy  call 
evil.  When  I  see  men  who  have  been  pure 
and  self-denying,  with  their  clear  eyes  detecting 
the  flaw  and  blemish  in  their  moral  nature,  I 
feel  constrained  to  feel  that  there  must  be  de- 
fects in  me  which  my  sin-blinded  eyes  cannot 
detect.  And  from  these  comes  this  witness. 
Saintly  Bishop  Wilson,  heroic  Henry  Martyn, 
holy  Bishop  Beveridge,  pure  and  brave  Bishop 
Ken,  chivalrous  men  of  God  like  Charles  Kings- 
ley  and  Robert  McCheyne,  all  combine  to  tell 
us  that  the  contest  they  have  to  encounter  is 
the  moral  evil  within. 

Nor  need  we  wonder  when  science  herself 
witnesses  to  the  fatal  power  of  this  inward 
poison.  She  rises  with  the  calmness  of  her 
sovereign  knowledge,,  and  tells  us  that  there  is 


almost  to  his  destruction,  to  find  after  all  that  the  energies  of 
his  whole  manhood  were  too  feeble."  The  man  who  wrote 
thus  was  declared  by  Niebuhr  to  be  "a  man  of  unusual  purity, 
who  seemed  like  a  being  from  a  better  world." 


LECTURE   II.  81 


that  in  man  which  can  work  his  deterioration ; 
that  it  is  untrue  to  say,  as  men  have  vainly 
talked,  that  every  fall  is  a  fall  upwards :  she 
notes  the  aspiring-  growth  of  all  created  things  ; 
she  records  that  along*  the  centuries  there  have 
been  upward  aspirations  in  the  universe :  but 
she  also  bids  us  see  that  there  is  an  element  in 
man  which  makes  degradation  possible^*;  that 
the  laws  which  men  may  bind  to  their  service 
the}^  may  also  arm  with  the  poignard  of  in- 
evitable retribution  against  themselves.  She 
tells  us  there  is  an  evil  disposition  born  in  men 
and  growing  with  men  which  destroys  health 
and  degrades  the  race. 

"The  moral  element  is  an  essential  part  of 
a  complete  and  sound  character ;  he  who  is 
destitute  of  it  being  unquestionably  to  that 
extent  a  defective  being,  is  therefore  on  the 
road  to,  or  marks,  race  degeneracy;  and  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  much  wonder  that  his  children 
should,  where  better  influences  do  not  intervene 

14  "  Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  possibility  of  such 
Simian  development,  the  possible  human  deterioration  is  an 
inevitable  attribute  of  the  rational  moral  free  a.t,fent  man  ; 
capable  of  the  noblest  aspirations  and  of  wcmdrous  intellectual 
development,  but  also  with  a  capacity  for  moral  degradation 
sucli  as  belongs  to  him  alone  of  all  created  things.  The  one 
characteristic  as  well  as  the  other  separates  man  by  an 
impassable  barrier  from  all  those  other  living  creatures  that 
might  appear  in  some  respects  gifted  with  endowments  akin 
to  his  own." — Wilson's  Prehistoric  Man,  p.  182. 


82  LECTURE   II. 


to  check  the  morbid  tendency,  exhibit  a  greater 
degree  of  degeneracy/'  Such  is  the  language 
of  one  well  entitled  to  speak  on  this  subject  ^"'^. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Idiotcy,  he  tells  us,  is  a  manu- 
factured article  ^*^ ;  and  if  we  ask  concerning  its 
origin  we  shall  find  that  moral  irregularity  in 
earlier  generations  has  been  in  an  appalling 
proportion  the  parent  of  mental  defect  or  weak- 
ness ;  for  he  tells  that  Dr.  Howe,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, found  that  about  fifty  per  cent,  of 
the  idiots  he  examined  were  the  offspring  of 
intemperate  parents ;  and  that  a  French  ph}^- 
sician  of  eminence  traced  the  defective  intel- 
ligence and  final  imbecility  of  one  family  back 
through  the  hypochondria  of  the  parent  to  the 
intemperance  and  immorality  of  previous  gene- 
rations^^.    It    is    one    of  the   awful    witnesses 

'^  Dr.  Henry  Maudsley,  Body  and  Mind,  Lecture  ii. 
p.  67. 

'^  Ihid.  p.  44. 

^'^  "  Morel  has  traced  through  four  generations  the  family 
history  of  a  youth  who  was  admitted  into  the  asyhjin  at 
Rouen  in  a  state  of  stupidity  and  semi-idiocy  ;  the  summary 
of  which  may  fitly  illustrate  the  natural  course  of  degeneracy 
when  it  goes  on  through  generations. 

First  generation  :  Immorality,  depravity,  alcoholic  excess, 
and  moral  degradation  in  the  great-grandfather,  who  was 
killed  in  a  tavern  hrawl. 

Second  generation :  Hereditary  drunkenness,  maniacal 
attacks,  ending  in  general  pai-alysis  in  the  grandfather. 

Third  generation  :  Sobriety,  but  hypochondriacal  tendencies, 
delusions  of  persecutions,  and  homicidal  tendencies  in  the 
father. 


LECTUEE    II.  83 


of  modern  investigation,  which  men  must  see 
unless  they  are  blind,  that  God  answers  us  with 
wonderful  things  in  His  righteousness ;  that 
He  shows  on  a  vast  and  terrific  scale  around 
us,  that  not  on  the  intellectual  depends  the 
moral  power  of  men,  but  that  the  disregard  of 
the  moral  law  is  sure  to  be  followed  by  the 
decline  of  the  mental,  and  the  dwindling  of  the 
mental  by  the  enfeebling  of  the  physical  from 
generation  to  generation.  Do  we  wonder,  then  ? 
Do  we  not  at  once  acknowledge  that  Christianity 
is  right  in  directing  the  strength  of  her  attack 
upon  the  moral  weakness  in  man,  and  affirming 
that  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  must  be  a  kingdom 
within  ? 

(ii)  But  it  is  said  :  We  do  not  deny  the  facts, 
but  we  object  to  the  way  in  which  Christianity 
asks  us  to  reerard  the  facts.  We  think  these 
conceptions  involve  fictitious  notions.  We  know 
too  well  the  terrific  desolations  which  moral 
evil  has  wrought ;  but  we  deny  that  they  ought 
to  be  called  sin.  There  is  here  an  objection  to 
the  use  of  the  word  sin  in  connection  with  in- 
herited evil.    The  sin  here  spoken  of,  it  is  urged. 

Fourth  generation  :  Defective  intelligence  ;  first  attack  of 
mania  at  sixteen;  stupidity,  and  transition  to  complete  idiocy, 
and  furtherniore,  probable  extinction  of  the  family." — Body 
and  Mind,  p.  45.  The  whole  lecture  should  be  read,  especially 
PP-  43-53. 


84  LECTURE   II. 


is  the  inherited  tendency  for  which  no  man  is 
fairly  responsible.  Is  it  my  fault  if  there  are 
dipsomaniacal  tendencies  in  my  blood  ?  Surely 
a  man  is  no  more  to  blame  for  this  than  that  he 
is  born  dumb,  or  blind,  or  crippled  ? 

The  answer  is — Christianity  does  not  blame 
man  for  what  he  cannot  help.  There  is  no 
ground  for  the  statement  that  she  does  so  :  but 
Christianity  is  bound  to  call  things  by  their 
right  names,  for  all  that.  We  do  not  blame 
a  cripple,  but  surely  we  must  call  him  deformed. 
Christ  did  not  blame  men  for  the  tendencies  of 
their  birth,  but  He  most  emphatically  refused 
to  call  evil  good,  or  to  say  that  such  tendencies 
were  morally  good.  We  are  justified  in  calling 
defects  in  moral  tendency  immoral,  just  as  we 
are  in  speaking  of  phj^sical  defects  as  deformities. 
There  is  no  more  reason  for  not  callino"  such 
tendencies  immoral  than  for  not  calling  a  lame 
man  a  cripple.  Christianity  affirms  that  these 
moral  traits  are  tokens  of  a  moral  failure  in 
an  earlier  generation ;  and  the  analogy  of 
all  scientific  investigation  goes  to  show  that 
she  is  right ;  this  inherited  bias  she  calls 
"■  original  sin/'  which  is  the  theological  equi- 
valent for  inherited  moral  defect.  To  say  that 
it  is  not  moral  because  the  seat  is  largely  in  the 
physical  nature   is    only  to    play   with    words, 


LECTURE    II»  85 


because  whatever  materialistic  theory  we  hokl 
we  must  distinguish  between  inherited  vicious 
dispositions  and  inherited  bodily  weakness''^. 
We  call  the  first  moral  though  it  may  have 
a  powerful  ally  in  the  physical  constitution  ;  we 
call  the  second  physical  though  it  may  be  con- 
ditioned by  the  moral  temperament. 

If  it  be  objected  that  it  is  the  word  sin  which 
should  be  struck  out,  we  have  a  right  to  ask 
the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  understood.  We 
understand  it  as  the  aspect  of  moral  evil,  as 
a  discord  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It  is  the 
idea  of  God  which  gives  us  the  right  to  call 
moral  defect  sin,  because  we  are  sure  that  how- 
ever it  may  have  been  originated,  it  is  an 
element  out  of  harmony  with  His  righteous 
kingdom.  To  him  who  believes  in  God  moral 
evil  will  always  have  the  nature  of  sin. 

It  is  of  course  open  to  a  man  to  speak  other- 
wise :  it  is  open  to  a  man  to  say  that  a  breach 
of  the  seventh  commandment  is  not  sin  :  he 
may  call  it  anything  he  pleases ;  he  may  say  it 

^*  "  That  '  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong  must 
remain'  is  admitted.  We  thus  see  that  even  under  the  utmost 
possible  exaggeration  of  the  doctrine  of  necessity,  the  dis- 
tinction between  moral  good  and  evil  in  conduct  would  not 
only  subsist,  but  would  stand  out  in  a  more  marked  manner 
than  ever,  when  the  good  and  the  wicked,  liowever  unlike, 
are  still  regarded  as  of  one  common  nature." — Ribot,  EvylUJt 
Psychology,  p.  112. 


86  LECTURE    II. 


is  not  sinful,  but  only  unhealtliy  to  society. 
But  when  he  speaks  thus  he  only  affirms  that 
society  calls  that  unwholesome  which  the  moral 
sense  of  men  calls  sinful ;  or  he  witnesses  that 
physical  science  calls  that  unhealthy  which 
conscience  calls  sinful ;  or  in  other  words,  that 
obedient  nature  registers  the  decrees  of  her 
king,  and  that  the  physical  world  is  the  exe- 
cutioner of  the  decrees  of  the  moral  world. 

(iii)  But  there  is  a  third  objection  :  it  is 
said  that  the  enterprise  which  seeks  to  regene- 
rate man  is  Quixotic.  It  is  the  philosophy  of 
despair  which  speaks  thus :  it  is  the  philosophy 
of  paganism  which  speaks  thus  :  it  is  the  warped 
utterance  of  the  determinist,  not  of  the  Christian, 
which  says  '  I  am  as  I  am,  and  I  can  no  more 
help  being  what  I  am  in  character,  than  I  can 
change  the  colour  of  my  hair^'^.'  It  was  a 
Pagan  writer  who  ridiculed  the  idea  that  a 
change  of  character  was  possible.  The  ancient 
as  well  as  the  modern  acknowledged  that  a 
regeneration  of  character  would  be  good,  but 
they  proclaim  that  it  is  impossible.  "  Those 
who  are  disposed   by  nature  to  vice,    and   ac- 

^9  ''Man  is  not  free.  He  is  as  little  responsible  for  his 
acts  as  the  stone  which  wounds  our  head  by  obeying  the  law 
of  gravitation :  a  crime  is  the  necessary  effect  of  a  law  of 
nature." — Dankwardt,  quoted  by  Luthardt  {Saving  Trutlis, 
V'  345)- 


LECTURE    II.  87 


customed  to  it,  cannot  be  transformed  by  punish- 
ment, much  less  by  mercy."  That  is  the  voice 
of  an  ancient  ^^.  "  It  is  folly  to  think  one  can 
change  his  own  character  or  that  of  another." 
That  is  the  voice  of  a  modern  ^^.  It  is  not  thus 
Christianity  speaks  ^^.  She  calls  to  men,  and 
refuses  to  regard  them  as  other  than  men — 
men  with  strong  passions,  men  with  often  base 
thoughts,  men  with  eager  and  ambitious  temper- 
aments, but  yet  men  capable  of  recognising  the 
right  and  the  holy,  the  true  and  the  good — men 
dowered  with  God's  great  gift  of  choice — men 
who,  whatever  their  past  life  or  their  antecedents 
may  have  been,  still  largely  hold  in  their  hands 
the  making  and  the  marring  of  their  fate. 
She  knows  the  strength  of  the  evil  in  man  ; 
yet  she  refuses  to  treat  man  as  the  sport  of 
fortune  or  the  slave  of  fate.  She  will  not  suffer 
man  to  unman  himself  by  blaming  heaven. 
The  fault,  she  cries — 

"  The  fault  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves  that  we  are  underlings  ^^." 


'^^  Celsus.  ^^  Schopenhauer. 

^2  "  A  nature  once  thoroughly  vitiated  became  altogether 
incapable  of  appreciating  it  (virtue),  and  the  transformation 
of  such  a  nature  which  was  continually  effected  by  Chris- 
tianity was  confessedly  beyond  the  powers  of  philosophy." — 
Lecky,  vol.  ii.  p.  4. 

^^  Julius  Ceesar. 


88  LECTURE   II. 


She  scans  the  world,  and  sees  all  the  environing- 
evils  which  may  assail  men  :  she  looks  into  the 
horoscope,  and  gives  her  answer  to  expectant 
and  eager  men. 

"  '  No  horoscope  makes  fate,' 
*Tis  but  a  mirror,  shows  one  image  full 
And  leaves  the  future  dark  with  sullen  'Ifs^*.'" 

And  in  this  she  is  right ;  and  in  this  the  better 
sense  of  mankind  has  expressed  itself.  Ever 
since  the  dark  cloud  of  necessity  has  fallen 
athwart  the  world,  men  have  felt  that  they 
could  not  fight  when  the  stars  in  their  courses 
fought  against  them.  But  the  strong  and 
guiding  light  of  an  inspiring  star  has  led  them 
to  a  better  mind  and  a  higher  hope  ;  and 
they  have  learned  that  the  only  foe  whose  alli- 
ance with  the  power  of  evil  they  have  to  fear 
is  the  weak  vacillating  will  within  them.  They 
have  learned  to  bear  in  mind  that  there  is  a 
difference  between  moral  tendencies  and  physical 
or  mental  defects.  Two  sources  of  evidence  will 
suffice.  Let  once  more  literature  and  science 
speak  :  for  in  these  w^e  have  witnesses  who  have 
thought  and  observed.  And  what  do  we  find 
from  these  ? 

I   find  that  the  dramatist   and  the    novelist 
do  not  select  the  physical  or  the  mental  weak- 

'^*  Spanish  Gypsy,  by  George  Eliot. 


LECTURE    II.  89 


ness  of  men  for  sarcasm  :  the  play-writer  that 
ridiculed  the  idiot  or  the  cripple  would  be  hooted 
from  the  stage ;  but  the  moral  weakness  of 
men — the  conceit  and  bluster  of  Parolles  and 
Bobadil  and  Sir  John  Falstaff — the  unctuous 
hypocrisy  of  the  hollow  religionist  are  considered 
fair  subjects  for  satire  and  jest.  But  if  the 
conceit  of  the  former  and  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
latter  are  only  the  inborn  necessity  of  their 
organisation^  what  right  has  dramatist  or  novelist 
to  ridicule  them  ?  It  is  the  deep-rooted  con- 
viction that  these  men  deserve  ridicule  and  are 
only  preposterous  egotists  and  self-made  Phari- 
sees w^hich  makes  it  possible  to  caricature  their 
defects  upon  the  stage. 

And  the  power  of  self- culture  which  the 
dramatist  or  novelist  assumes  is  affirmed  by  the 
deliberate  voice  of  thoughtful  men.  Man,  writes 
one,  can  by  acting  upon  circumstances  which 
will  in  time  act  upon  him  imperceptibly  modify 
his  character  2^.  Another  reminds  us  of  the 
moral  nature  which  enables  man  "  alone  of  all 


^''  "  The  free-will  doctrine,  by  keeping  in  view  precisely 
that  portion  of  truth  which  the  word  necessity  puts  out  of 
sight,  namely,  the  power  of  the  mind  to  co-operate  in  the 
formation  of  its  own  character,  has  given  to  its  adherents  a 
practical  feeling  much  nearer  to  the  truth  than  has  generally, 
I  believe,  assisted  in  the  minds  of  necessariani>." — Ribot, 
English  Pbydiology,  p.  no. 

G 


90  LXCTUKE    II. 


created  beings  to  classify  his  emotions,  to  oppose 
the  current  of  liis  desires,  and  to  aspire  after 
moral  perfection-^."  Thus  do  the  students  of 
human  nature  stand  at  one  with  Christianity 
in  refusing"  to  reorard  man  as  mere  driftwood  on 
the  relentless  ocean  of  inexorable  destiny. 

III.  But  if  Christianity  in  giving  prominence 
to  the  fact  of  moral  e^*il  spoke  even  more  strongly 
than  she  does,  she  at  least  of  all  others  might 
claim  the  right  to  do  so  ;  for  she  alone  claims 
the  power  of  removing  this  evil.  It  is  idle  for 
those  who  have  no  power  to  charm  away  the 
plague  to  dilate  upon  its  terrors  :  it  is  allowable 
for  the  physician  to  describe  minutely  the 
symptoms.  Thus  it  is  with  Christianity:  she 
may  speak  plainly,  for  she  holds  the  healing 
power  in  her  hand.  No  other  influence  has 
been  able  to  check  the  tide.  Philosophy  gave 
it  up  in  despair.  "  Philosophy  was  admirably 
fitted  to  dignify  and  ennoble,,  but  it  was  alto- 
gether impotent  to  regenerate  mankind  2'." 
Such  is  the  comment  of  a  recent  and  impartial 
writer.  Nor  could  culture  or  the  worship  of 
the  beautiful  work  this  change.  "  Through  the 
Jk'autiful,  that  door  of  dawn,  we  are  to  enter 


**  Lecky,  European  'Morals,  vol.  i.  p.  4. 
^  Idem. 


l.l.OTVUK    W.  1)1 


the  laud  of  moral  tVoodonr-^."  But  (Iumv  is  (hjil 
in  the  very  worship  of  the  beautiful  which  draws 
meu  away  from  duty:  the  stern  realities  oi'  hie 
are  set  ou  one  side  by  aesthetic  jn-ineiples  as 
painful  and  incomprehensible.  Disa^'reeahle 
duties  are  disregarded.  Xor  could  pride  work 
the  change  ■-\  Pride  could  indeed  crush  the 
affections,  and  set  up  its  own  throne  in  the  place 
of  the  love  and  the  pining  weakness  which  it 
had  displaced.  But  besides  that  such  a  method 
could  only  be  adopted  by  heroes  or  stoics,  and 
was  not  fitted  to  the  ordinary  mind ;  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  to  exchange  one  vice  for 
another  is  not  to  regenerate  the  heart.  Nor 
could  Law  do  it  ^^.    The  sarcasm  of  Burke  might 

^  "  Schiller  supposed  that  resthetics  possessed  this  power  : 
he  puts  these  in  the  phice  of  Kant's  categorical  imperative. 
It  is  through  the  BeautifiL  that  door  of  dawn,  that  we  are 
to  enter  the  land  of  moral  freedom.  But  this  has  proved  a 
delusion.  Xo  natural  ability,  no  power  of  the  human  mind, 
can  make  us  other  men." — Luthardt  (Lectures  on  Funda- 
mental Truths  of  Christianity,  p.  191),  who  quotes  in  a  note 
Schiller's  essay  on  aesthetic  education  as  follows  : — "  On  the 
other  side  the  civilised  classes  present  the  repulsive  aspect 
of  a  laxity  and  depravity  of  character,  which  makes  us  the 
more  indignant  because  it  has  its  source  in  culture." 

^^  '•  Stoicism  made  Pride  the  first  of  graces  and  reduced 
virtue  to  a  kind  of  majestic  egotism  ;  proposing  as  examples 
such  men  as  Anaxagoras,  who,  when  told  that  his  son  had 
died,  simply  observed,  '  I  never  supposed  that  I  had  begotten 
an  immortal.'" — Lecky,  European  Morals,  p.  201. 

2*^  "A  metaphysical  theory  cannot  restrain  the  fury  of  the 
passions  :  as  we'l  attempt  to  bind  a  lion  with  a  cobweb." — 
Reade,  Martyrdom  of  Man,  p.  531. 

G  2 


92  LECTURE    II. 


be  applied  to  this.  He  broke  forth  in  his  scath- 
ing* way  against  those  who  thought  to  check 
the  aspirations  of  an  infant  empire  by  dockets 
and  briefs,  by  Acts  of  Parliament  and  blue 
book  reports.  No  statute  can  control  the  pas- 
sions of  man.  Fine-spun  decrees  will  not  curb 
men's  passions,  and  even  wise  laws  cannot  reach 
men's  hearts. 

But  Christianity  can  work  this  regeneration  : 
where  law  and  pride  and  song  and  culture  have 
failed,  Christianity  has  succeeded.  Her  moral 
influence  has  given  a  fixity  to  advancing  civili- 
sation and  has  pushed  forward  the  regeneration 
of  the  world. 

It  is  said  indeed  by  one  who  undervalues 
Christian  influence,  that  seeing*  that  moral 
trutb  remains  the  same  whereas  intellectual 
knowledge  advances,  we  must  attribute  the 
advance  of  civilisation  to  the  growing  intellec- 
tual and  not  to  the  stationary  moral  powers. 
This  is  like  saying  that  a  number  which  re- 
mains a  constant  factor  of  a  whole  and  enlarging 
expression  does  not  add  anything  to  the  value 
of  the  expression,  though  it  is  multiplied  into 
any  new  term.  It  is  like  saying  that  the 
horse-power  of  the  engine  adds  nothing  to  its 
force  because  it  has  hitherto  been  moving  at 
half-steam.     It  is  like  saying  that  the  mortar 


LECTUEE    II.  93 


adds  no  strength  to  the  building"  because  the 
building  increases  by  the  addition  of  stones, 
not  of  the  mortar.  Whatever  of  firmness  there 
is  in  moral  civilisation  is  due  to  its  improved 
moral  tone.  Wherever  the  moral  tone  is  low, 
the  decay  of  society  is  at  hand.  It  was  sen- 
suality and  sin  which  killed  Kome  ;  it  was 
corruption  and  vice  which  sold  Athens  into 
the  hands  of  her  enemies ;  it  is  always  vice, 
vice,  vice — moral  evil  in  society — which  casts 
down  empires  and  overthrows  the  Babylons  of 
history. 

But  it  is  not  in  supplying  the  outward  moral 
strength  to  societies,  it  is  in  supplying  the 
regenerating  power  to  individuals  that  Chris- 
tianity shows  her  chiefest  power.  Men  said  it 
was  impossible  to  change  the  heart,  and  truly  it 
is  hard,  where  passions  are  strong  and  sin 
abounds;  but  the  things  which  are  impossible 
with  men  are  possible  with  God.  The  touch  of 
Christ  bid  the  palsy  and  the  fever  cease ;  the  touch 
of  Christ  bade  also  the  fever  of  covetousness  and 
the  palsy  of  timidity  disappear  from  men.  He 
drew  Matthew  from  the  absorbing  interests  of 
his  gain;  He  gave  hesitating  Nicodemus  the 
courage  of  his  convictions.  And  these  witnesses 
of  His  earthly  ministry  were  but  the  earnest  of 
later  triumphs  of  His  Cross  on  earth.     Far  over 


94  LECTURE    II. 


the  world  in  every  land  the  sons  of  men  groaned 
beneath  the  yoke  of  sin^s  tyranny;  but  Chris- 
tianity draws  near,  the  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins  are  quickened  into  life.  She  points  to  the 
Cross,  and  she  asks :  If  the  Divine  can  drink 
the  cup  of  death,  the  human  may  take  the  cup 
of  life  ?  If  Christ  can  die,  surely  man  may  live 
in  newness  of  life  ?  She  bids  us  look  upwards 
and  see  the  glorious  company  of  the  redeemed, 
and  she  tells  that  they  were  men  of  like  passions 
with  ourselves.  Pharisees  like  Saul  of  Tarsus 
are  there ;  sensualists  like  Augustine  and  New- 
ton are  there ;  Nothing  is  impossible,  she  cries 
to  the  sin-burdened — nothing  is  impossible  if 
you  w^ill  but  unbar  the  gate  of  your  heart  and 
let  Him  in  whose  right  it  is  to  reign  ;  and  there 
in  your  heart  He  will  set  up  His  throne^  and 
there  will  He  commence  His  regenerating  work ; 
and  there  will  you  learn  how  He  meets  you  in 
the  very  lowest  depths  of  your  being,  and  know 
Him  to  be  divine  because  so  suited  to  your 
human  needs,  and  behold  with  optning  eyes  the 
spreading  borders  of  His  kingdom  and  the 
shining  glories  of  His  palace  walls !  Do  you 
ask  where?  Again  the  answer  comes  back, 
across  centuries  of  human  experience  and  from 
thousands  of  regenerated  souls.  His  kingdom 
is  an   everlasting  kingdom,   and  His  kingdom 


LECTURE    II.  95 


reigneth  over  all :  but  it  comes  not  with  out- 
ward pomp ;  and  though  it  be  everywhere,  and 
build  its  walls  in  every  mountain  and  show  its 
beauties  in  every  flower,  yet  if  you  are  to  be- 
hold it  it  must  be  within  you,  and  if  not  there 
— then,  though  everywhere ;  for  you — nowhere. 


LECTUEE   III. 


"  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke  xvii.  21. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  the  sons  of  song*  has 
told  us  that  it  is  not  enough  that  poems  should 
be  beautiful ;  they  must  be  sweet  also.  It  is 
true  of  all  art  that  it  must  have  a  sj^mpathetic 
touch.  Without  this  we  may  admire,  we  may 
wonder,  we  may  criticise^  but  we  are  unmoved. 
We  can  forgive  rudeness  of  execution,  we  can 
pass  over  even  grotesqueness,  if  only  the  affec- 
tions are  appealed  to.  Brilliancy  which  dazzles, 
faultless  composition,  exact  portraiture  we  ap- 
preciate, we  praise.  The  eye  may  be  satisfied 
with  beauty;  the  heart  can  be  satisfied  with 
love  alone. 

That  which  is  true  of  poesy  and  painting  is 
true  also  of  Religion.  Religions  may  be  beau- 
tiful ;  their  mythology  may  be  replete  with 
exquisite  legends ;  their  worship  alive  with 
fresh,  joyous,    or   gorgeous    ceremonial;    their 


LECTURE    111.  97 


teaching's  full  of  profound  thoughts ;  but  the 
worshippers  will  g-o  home  with  an  unsatisfied 
hunger  of  spirit :  for  a  religion  must  not  merely 
attract  or  astonish,  it  must  have  that  sweetness 
which  goes  to  the  heart ;  it  must  appeal  not  to 
wonder  or  splendour  only,  it  must  appeal  to 
love  also :  for  man  is  not  a  mere  compound 
of  mind  and  body ;  he  has  also  affections^  and 
the  great  world  moves  forward  on  the  wheels  of 
love. 

And  the  religion  of  the  Gospel  is  adjusted  to 
this  craving  in  man.  Love  has  been  the  method 
of  Christ.  It  is  needless  to  stop  and  prove  this. 
The  whole  New  Testament  bears  on  every  page 
a  proof  that  love  lies  at  the  heart  of  Christ's 
system.  The  first  movement  of  the  Gospel  is 
love — '^  God  so  loved  the  world  ^;"  the  bond  of 
discipleship  was  love^;  the  motive  of  obedience 
was  love  ^ ;  the  inspiring  power  pervading  the 
spirit  of  His  religious  system  was  love  to  God, 
love  to  man  ^;  the  first  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
was  love  ^ ;  the  last  of  the  Christian  excellences 
was  love  ^ ;  the  highest  of  the  Christian  graces 
was  love'^.  When  the  Apostles  reached  their 
happiest  moments  their  words  ran  in  the  strain  of 

^  John  iii.  i6.  ^  John  xiii.  35. 

^  John  xiv.  15.  *  Romans  xiii.  jo. 

5  Gal.  V.  22.  ^2  Pet.  i.  7. 

''  r  Cor.  xiii.  13. 


98  LECTUEE    III. 


love — "  He  loved  me;"  "  we  love  Him  ;"  "  Thou 
hast  loved  us  and  washed  us."  The  song,  then, 
that  Christianity  sung  in  the  ears  of  a  sad  world 
was  a  love  song.  Humanity  had  sunk  low ; 
the  crown  had  dropped  from  her  brow  ;  the 
freshness  had  left  her  heart ;  she  toyed  with 
flowers  that  faded,  and  with  fruits  that  turned 
to  dust ;  pain  and  folly  and  disappointment 
had  made  her  heart  proud  and  hard^.  He 
whose  throne  was  in  the  realms  of  light  laid 
aside  His  robe  of  splendour  ;  veiled  He  came,  a 
harp  of  sweetness  in  His  hand ;  in  the  night 
and  in  the  storms  He  sang,  and  His  song  was 
love,  love  evermore ;  they  were  chords  of  home 
and  words  of  tenderness  that  floated  to  her  ear  ; 
she  paused,  from  her  wearying  tasks  and  more 
wearisome  pleasures,  to  listen  ;  the  gaudy  toys 
she  played  with  began  to  lose  beauty  in  her 
sight ;  visions  of  a  nobler  inheritance  and  purer 
life  began  to  rush  upon  her  mind — she  wept. 
Was  the  harper  wise  ? 


*  "  In  the  reign  of  Augustus  violence  paused  only  because 
it  liad  finished  its  woik.  Faith  was  dead  :  morality  had  dis- 
ai)peared.  Around  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  the 
conquered  nations  looked  at  one  another  —  partakers  of  a 
common  misfortune,  associated  in  a  common  lot,  not  one  cf 
thtm  had  found  a  God  to  help  her  in  her  day  of  need. 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa  were  tranquil,  but  it  was  the  silence  of 
despair." — Draper,  The  Intel'edual  Development  of  Earo}->e, 
vol.  i.  p.  267. 


LECTURE    III.  99 


Such  is  the  method  of  Christ^.  Let  us  dis- 
miss imagery,  and  see 

I.  Whether  it  was  wise, 

II.  What  objections  have  been  raised  against, 
and 

III.  How  far  it  has  been  successful. 

I.  The  method  is  wise,  whether  we  turn  our 
attention  to  the  nature  of  man,  or  the  nature  of 
the  evil  which  has  to  be  vanquished. 

(i.)  It  is  wise  when  we  consider  the  nature  of 
man. 

I  have  in  part  anticipated  this.  The  nature 
of  man  demands  love.  We  do  not  comprehend 
the  deep  and  awful  meaning  of  this  in  early  life. 
In  our  young  days  we  are  as  insects  sipping 
honey  from  every  flower ;  we  like  the  glimpses 
of  the  fair  and  beautiful ;  we  love  the  sunshine 
and  the  birds,  the  grassy  uplands,  the  patient 
browsing  cattle_,  the  ever-moving  sea;  it  is  the 
Wordsworthian  epoch  of  life  ;  we  are  impatient 
of  machinery  and  chimneys  and  smoke  and  tur- 
moil, the  roar  of  the  crowd,  and  the  fierce  heats 
of  toiling  life.     But  there  comes  a  change;  we 

^  "  To  the  sorrowful  in  spirit  and  the  weak  in  heax't,  to 
the  weary  and  heavy-laden  Jesus  appeared  as  a  shining  angel 
with  words  sweet  as  the  honeycomb  and  bright  as  the 
golden  day.  He  laid  His  hands  on  the  head  of  the  lonely; 
He  bade  the  sorrowful  be  of  good  cheer,  for  that  the  day  of 
their  deliverance  and  their  glory  was  at  hand." — Eeade, 
Marfyrdom  of  Man,  p.  222. 


100  LECTURE    III. 


must  enter  the  arena  ;  the  education  of  the  taste, 
or  the  sensibilities,  or  the  sentiments  is  not  the 
whole  of  life ;  we  have  no  right  to  pamper 

"the  coward  heart 
With  feelings  all  too  delicate  for  use." 

We  must  face  facts  and  we  must  see  humanity : 
we  must  leave  the  God-made  country  and  enter 
the  man-made  town.  What  does  it  teach 
us?  It  teaches  us  to  abandon  the  misleading 
phraseology  which  speaks  of  flowers  and  birds 
and  hills  and  mountains  as  the  works  of  God, 
as  if  these  only  were  His  works;  it  shows  us 
human  life — its  eagerness,  its  fevers  of  hope  and 
fear,  its  agonies,  its  failures,  its  terrible  isola- 
tions ;  and  there  begins  to  break  upon  us  slowly 
the  conviction  that  the  thing  we  perhaps  thought 
least  of — which  we  have  trifled  with,  flung  away 
as  useless  because  over-abundant — is  the  most 
priceless  heritage  of  man.  We  are  taught  in 
the  stern  and  real  battle  of  life  that  there  is 
something  for  which  the  bravest  heart  longs, 
without  which  his  struggles  may  be  courageous 
and  patient,  but  must  be  cheerless :  we  are 
taught  that  the  heart  looks  evermore  for  some 
star  of  love  upon  the  black  dome  of  night.  I 
say  life,  as  it  enlarges,  teaches  us  that.  In  life's 
infancy  we  take  the  warm  love  which  surrounds 
us  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  when  Nurse  Time 


LECTURE    III.  101 


bids  US  go  forth  from  the  shelter  of  the  home, 
we  then  see  how  scarce  and  precious  a  thing  it 
is.  In  our  childhood,  we  thought  love  looked 
forth  from  every  flower,  smiled  in  every  sun- 
beam, and  sang  by  every  stream ;  our  fresh 
hearts  saw  love  everywhere ;  but  our  vision 
grows  keener  with  advancing  years,  we  see  with 
clearer,  aye  terribly  clearer  vision  ;  the  enchanter 
has  vanished  from  the  landscape.  All  round  is 
a  realm  of  death  :  death  has  built  up  the  moun- 
tains ;  death  has  bidden  the  fair  islets  rise  like 
jewels  from  the  ocean  depths ;  death  with  his 
skeleton  fingers  has  fashioned  the  noblest  things 
that  survive  in  nature  ^^j  the  ground  beneath  us, 

'^^  Luthardt  (Saving  Truths,  p.  331)  gives  in  a  note  the  views 
of  Professor  Eoper  on  this  subject : — "  The  notorious  liana,  a 
plant  like  our  ivy,  crushes  the  tops  of  the  proudest  trees; 
others  absorb  the  bark,  or  consume  the  vital  juices  after  the 
manner  of  fungi.  The  magnificent  clusia,  which  grow  upon 
the  trees  themselves,  conceal  them  like  coffins.  .  .  .  Most 
beasts  live  upon  animal,  some  upon  living  food.  Those  who 
serve  as  food  to  others  are  often  slowly  tortm'ed  to  death. 
The  pretty,  and,  in  some  varieties,  tuneful  nine-mui'ders, 
impale  their  prey — butterflies  and  other  insects — upon  thorns 
and  prickles  where  they  may  live  for  days.  And  then  the 
great  massacres  of  the  little  ants  who  make  regular  war  on 
each  other,  unmercifully  slaying  their  grown-up  adversaries, 
and  bringing  up  the  kidnapped  larvae  as  slaves !  The 
ichneumon  fly  lays  its  eggs  in  caterpillars,  &c.,  and  the 
larvEe  then  consume  the  body  of  their  host.  ...  In  short, 
here  too  there  is  no  stability.  All  is  groaning  for  redemption. 
Nature  'preaches  the  most  crushing  fatalism,  the  most  in- 
exorable necessity  and  predestination.'  In  God  alone  is 
peace."  In  the  same  note  he  refers  to  the  saying  of  Schopen- 
hauer, "  If  God  made  this  world,  I  should  not  like  to  be  God  : 


102  LECTURE    III. 


the  air  around  us,  3'ea,  the  very  starry  worlds 
which  are  so  bright  above  us,  are  worlds  of 
storm  and  death ;  the  leafage  of  the  forest  con- 
ceals the  coffins  of  earlier  growth ;  the  bright 
insects,  which  hover  joyously  over  every  sweet 
flower,  live  too  often  but  for  martyrdom.  "  Life 
is  one  long  tragedy/'  "  its  joys  but  pretty 
children  which  grow  into  regrets  ^^."     We  are 

its  woes  would  break  my  heart."  With  this  we  may  compare 
the  words  of  Strauss:  "  It  must  have  been  an  ill-advised  God, 
who  could  fall  upon  no  better  amusement  ^han  the  trans- 
forming of  Himself  into  such  an  hungry  world  as  this,  which 
is  utterly  miserable  and  worse  than  none  at  all."  (Quoted  in 
British  Quarterly  Revie^o,  Jan.  1877,  p.  146,  article  Herbert 
Spencer.)  What  a  relief  to  turn  from  words  like  these  and 
hear  Him,  who  spake  not  as  man  speaks,  saying  of  the 
sparrows  sold  in  the  market,  "Not  one  of  them  is  forgotten 
before  God." 

^^  The  law  of  Murder  is  the  law  of  Growth.  Life  is  one 
long  tragedy  ;  creation  is  one  great  crime.  And  not  only  is 
there  waste  in  animal  and  human  life,  there  is  also  waste  in 
moral  life.  The  instinct  of  love  is  planted  in  the  human 
breast,  and  that  which  to  some  is  a  solace,  is  to  others  a 
torture.  How  many  hearts  yearning  for  affection  are 
blighted  in  solitude  and  coldness.  How  many  women  seated 
by  their  lonely  firesides  are  musing  of  the  days  that  minht 
have  been.  How  many  eyes,  when  they  meet  these  words 
which  remind  them  of  their  sorrows,  will  be  filled  with  tears. 
O  cold,  cruel,  miserable  life,  how  long  are  your  pains,  how 
Ijrief  are  your  delights  !  W^hat  are  joys  but  pretty  children 
that  grow  into  regrets  ?  What  is  happiness  but  a  passing 
dream  in  which  we  seem  to  be  asleep,  and  which  we  know 
only  to  have  been  when  it  is  past  ?  Pain,  grief,  disease  and 
death,  are  these  the  inventions  of  a  loving  God  ?  That  no 
animal  shall  rise  to  excellence  except  by  being  fatal  to  the 
life  of  others,  is  this  the  law  of  a  kind  Creator  ?  It  is  useless 
to  say  that  pain  has  its  benevolence,  that  massacre  has  its 
mercy.     Why  is  it  so  ordained  that  bad  should  be  the  raw 


LECTURE    III.  103 


disenchanted  ;  the  mask  has  dropped  from  the 
scene  and  its  hideousness  is  revealed;  we 
thought  love  was  everywhere — we  find  it 
scarcely  anywhere.  Nature  has  lost  her  love- 
notes  for  all  except  the  childlike  that  have 
childlike  ears  ;  and  she  speaks  not  love  and  life  ; 
her  utterance  is  death  and  sorrow.  And  yet  we 
crave  for  love  ;  it  is  warmth  more  than  light  we 
want  within  the  heart.  We  crave  for  love — yet 
there  is  no  undying  love  in  nature.  And  mean- 
while years  go  by  and  the  voices  wdiich  whis- 
pered love  in  our  ears  have  one  by  one  been 
silenced  by  the  hand  of  death.  Yes  !  we  with 
hearts  that  can  love  strongly,  tenderly,  fiercely, 
patiently,  are  bidden  to  look  into  the  world's 
face  and  see  every  lineament  of  love  fading  from 
her  features,  and  hear  every  note  of  tenderness 
die  out  of  her  song,  and  feel  every  w^arm  touch 
of  love  turn  to  the  icy  grasp  of  death  itself — 
and  still  we  can  love  and  we  do ;  and  with 
passionate  obstinacy  hungry  love  rises  up  within 
us  and  turns  to  the  cold  stars  and  the  cruel 
world,  and  cries  out  that  still,  though  powers 
too  strong   have  smitten  our  loves  into  aslies, 

material  of  good?  Pain  is  not  less  pain  because  it  is  useful ; 
murder  is  not  less  murder  because  it  is  con  lucive  to  de- 
velopment. There  is  blood  upon  the  hand  still,  and  all  the 
perfumes  of  Arabia  loill  not  sweeten  it." — Reade,  Martyrdom 
of  Man,  p.  520. 


104  LECTURE   III. 


though  the  wicked  winds  cast  their  dust  into 
our  faces,  we  hold  fast  to  love,  and  will  not  let 
her  go :  and  though  we  are  bidden  to  walk 
through  a  world  turned  to  wilderness,  all  the 
more  it  is  love — love  we  seek  in  our  lonely 
pilgrimage,  love  that  we  pine  for  in  our  solitary 
heart — for  love  is  stronger  than  death. 

Is  that  a  true  picture  of  life?  Is  that  a  true 
story  of  the  tenacity  of  love  ?  Let  only  the  eyes 
that  have  wept  look  up  to  answer.  Let  only 
the  hearts  that  have  been  broken  form  the 
reply,  and  I  know  it  will  be — "  Yes,  yes  !  a 
thousand  times  yes.""  There  is  but  one  passion^ 
one  power,  one  strength^  and  that  is  love. 

Was  it  not  wise  then  ?  Yea.  Was  it  not  but 
tenderly  wise  that  the  Gospel  should  run  in  these 
words — '^  God  so  loved  the  world."  Is  not  that  just 
the  utterance  that  broken,  stumbling,  and  sinful 
men  are  yearning  to  hear?  Is  not  that  the 
word  which  vindicates  the  obstinate  immortality 
of  love  which  refuses  to  believe  in  love's  death, 
and  clings  with  resolute  tenacity  to  the  thought 
— Love  is  nobler  than  dust,  love  is  nobler  than 
suns  and  starry  worlds ;  these  live  on,  and 
therefore  love,  being  nobler,  cannot  die.  God 
by  Christ  vindicates  this  faith.  The  universe 
moves  on  the  wheels  of  love  ;  death  and  sorrow 
are  but  shadows,  and  there  must  be  light  be- 


LECTURE    III.  105 


hind.  In  God  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being ;  and  God  !  O  !  Glorious  Evangel  of  the 
broken-hearted  and  the  sorrowing,  "  God  is 
Love/' 

(ii.)  But  the  method  is  wise  if  we   consider 
the  evil  to  be  vanquished. 

We  have  seen  what  the  evil  is.  It  is  not  in 
the  tempest,  the  earthquake,,  the  pestilence,  not 
in  the  pains  and  sorrow^s  which  we  cry  aloud 
against,  that  we  are  to  see  life''s  worst  evils. 
There  is  one  worse  than  all— it  is  the  moral  evil 
which  we  call  sin ;  and,  though  many  will  not 
agree  with  us  respecting  the  nature  of  sin, 
yet  moral  evil,  by  the  admission  of  men  of 
scientific  thought,  is  the  seed  which  blossoms  into 
pain  and  death.  Moral  depravity  is  the  parent 
of  intellectual  imbecility,  and  mental  imbecility 
is  the  precursor  of  physical  decay.  The  spread 
of  immorality  sows  the  seed  of  race  degeneracy  ^^. 
It  is  a  fact  for  the  world  to  face,  for  philan- 
thropists and  philosophers  to  consider  ;  it  is  the 
foe  against  which  Christianity  makes  war.  Now 
the  enemy  must  be  encountered  upon  his  own 
ground.  When  we  go  in  pursuit  of  him  we 
must  fight  him  where  we  find  him.  The  fortress 
in    which   this    foe,  sin,  has    entrenched    hini- 


See  Lecture  IT,  pp.  78,  79. 
H 


106  LECTURE   III. 


self  is  the  heart  of  man.  Such  is  Christ's 
description^^.  Out  of  the  heart  come  those  worst 
evils,  which  alone  defile  the  man.  It  was  per- 
fectly natural  therefore  in  the  development  of 
spiritual  strategy  that  our  Lord  should  proclaim 
that  heart  of  man  as  the  battle-field  of  the 
spiritual  conflict.  The  Kingdom  of  God  might 
rule  gloriously  in  sky  and  sea  and  earth  ;  but 
the  Kingdom  of  God  as  Christ  wished  to  see  it 
and  as  Christ  meant  to  establish  it  must  be 
where  the  encamped  foe  held  his  strongest 
positions.  The  Kingdom  of  Christ,  if  anywhere, 
must  be  within  us. 

Nor  was  this  merely  a  teaching  we  hear  from 
the  lips  of  Christ,  and  of  which  we  can  find  no 
confirming  evidence  in  ourselves.  We  all  know 
perfectly  well — and  the  very  advance  of  moral 
civilisation  forces  upon  us  the  conviction — that 
the  true  haunt  of  the  enemy  is  within  the  heart. 
The  decorums  of  life  may  be  observed ;  we 
cannot,  perhaps,  charge  ourselves  with  gross 
sins,  but  it  needs  not  the  keen  eye  of  satirist  or 
cynic  to  see  that  the  foe  lurks  in  ambush  behind 
the  ostentatious  decencies  of  life.  Yihy  should 
the  conviction  be  so  strong  among  us  that  we 
are  all  very  largely  hj^pocrites,  that  we  speak 


^^  Mark  vii.  14-23. 


LECTUEE    III.  107 


not  what  we  have  seen^  known  and  believed, 
but  what  we  think  will  be  acceptable,  or  ex- 
pected or  popular?  Why  do  we  talk  about 
''  the  muddy  source  of  the  lustre  of  public  ac- 
tions," unless  we  know  how  true  it  is  that  the 
tainted  motive  is  too  often  there  ?  One  who  has 
been  called  the  Butler  of  our  age^*  has  warned  us 
in  words  of  profound  and  sagacious  piety  that 
earnestness  in  religion  is  not  necessarily  re- 
ligious earnestness,  and  that  philanthropic  en- 
thusiasm may  be  only  a  thin  veil  of  paltry 
ambition.  A  modern  novelist  ^^  has,  as  we 
have  seen,  reminded  us  that  "  Self-esteem,  and 
not  any  very  high  notion  of  morality,  keeps 
many  a  man  from  picking  a  pocket."     And  do 

"  "Is  there  n;)t  as  much  human  glory  in  the  brilliant 
summit  of  religious  proselytism,  as  in  the  triumpli  of  a  certain 
set  of  political  principles?  Is  it  not  a  teiiiporal,  an  earthly, 
and  a  worldly  reward  to  be  called  Rabbi,  Rabbi  ?  Christ 
said  it  was.  If  then  one  of  the  great  critics  of  man  could 
speak  of '  the  muddy  source  of  the  lustre  of  public  actions,' 
the  scrutiny  may  be  carried  as  well  to  a  religious  as  a  political 
sphere.  The  truth  is,  wherever  there  is  action,  effort  aims 
at  certain  objects  and  ends ; — wherever  the  flame  of  human 
energy  mounts  up  ;  all  this  may  gather  either  round  a  centre 
of  pure  and  unselfish  desire,  as  round  a  centre  of  egotism  ; 
and  no  superiority  in  the  subject  of  the  work  can  prevent 
the  lapse  into  tha  superior  motive.  In  the  most  diflTerent 
fields  of  objects  this  may  be  the  same  :  it  is  a  quality  of  the 
individual.  Wliatever  he  does,  if  there  is  a  degeneracy  in  the 
temper  of  his  mind,  it  all  collects  and  gathers,  by  a  false 
direction  which  it  receive-!  from  the  false  centre  of  attraction 
round  himself.  The  subject  or  cause  which  a  man  takes  up 
makes  no  difference." — Mozley,  University/  Seruions,  p.  80. 

^*  See  p.  72. 

H  2 


108  LECTUUE    III. 


not  all  these  point  us  back  to  the  heart  as  the 
true  and  only  possible  arena  of  the  conflict? 
Yes  !  the  Master  was  right.  There  in  the  heart 
is  the  fountain  of  human  energy;  there  from  the 
heart  streams  forth  the  subtle  poisons  of  vanity, 
conceit,  petty  selfishness,  which  corrupt  even 
the  purest  of  our  actions  ;  and  therefore  into  the 
heart,  into  the  very  spring  of  our  moral  vigour, 
must  the  healing  salt  of  His  grace  be  flung, 
that  sOj  there  where  God  would  have  it,  and 
there  where  He  is  most  honoured  in  having  it, 
God's  throne  may  be  set  up  and  His  kingdom 
established  within  us. 

(iii.)  Nor  must  the  enemy  be  thus  pursued 
into  his  stronghold  only;  it  is  needful  when 
there  that  he  should  be  encountered  with  wea- 
pons which  are  fit.  It  is  too  often  forgotten 
that  the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal. 
Material  weapons  will  not  vanquish  moral  evil. 
Physical  means  may  suit  physical  evils  ;  they 
belong  to  the  order  demanded  by  the  conflict. 
It  is  through  moral  avenues  that  the  heart  must 
be  reached. 

This  will  be  the  more  apparent  if  we  consider 

the   evil  against   which   we    have    to    contend. 

What  is  sin  ?    The  answer  which  has  been  given 

by  the  most  eminent  student  ^^  on  the  subject, 

*^  Miiller,  Christian  Doctrine  of  Sin. 


LECTURE    III.  109 


and  which  has  been  adopted  I  think  by  the 
majority  of  Christian  thinkers,  makes  it  to  con- 
sist in  selfishness.  For  the  present  (though  we 
shall  enlarge  our  view  later  on)  let  us  take  this 
definition — the  essence  of  sin  is  selfishness.  It 
is  the  following  of  our  own  hearts  and  passions 
and  desires,  heedless  of  right  and  heedless  of  the 
o^ood  or  well-beino"  of  others.  It  becomes  in- 
stantly  apparent  that  love  is  the  true  antagonist 
of  this  spirit.  ^'  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his 
neighbour,  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law."  Love  is  the  antidote  of  selfishness :  selfish- 
ness establishes  an  empire  of  sin :  love  will 
establish  the  kingdom  of  God  within. 

But  let  us  take  another  aspect.  Those  who 
have  taken  pains  to  investigate  man  as  he  is 
(I  am  not  speaking  of  professional  theologians, 
but  of  professed  men  of  scientific  or  philosophical 
attainments)  have  reached  as  the  result  of  their 
analysis  this  conclusion — that  the  weakness  of 
human  actions  may  be  traced  to  the  supremacy 
of  passion — that  the  passions  are  too  strong  and 
carry  away  the  will  with  them— that  the  will  as 
a  regulative  force  in  man  is  crippled.  But  I  do 
not  wish  you  to  have  this  in  my  own  words. 
Let  me  quote  an  independent  witness — a  French- 
man, who  has  given  us  a  capital  resume  of  the 
views  of  many   of  the    most   eminent   modern 


no  LECTUEE    in. 


psychologists.  These  are  his  words  giving  the 
result  of  these  men^s  psychological  investiga- 
tions :  "  The  root  of  our  volitions  is  desire  ^^." 
And  again^  giving  a  final  summary  of  the  con- 
current views  of  those  who  are  entitled  to  speak 
with  authority  as  independent  witnesses,  he 
writes,  "  The  will  has  its  source  in  the  activity 
either  of  the  organism  or  of  the  instincts^  appe- 
tites or  passions."  Now,  these  opinions,  if  they 
mean  anything,  mean  that  the  will  of  man  is  a 
crippled  thing,  too  often  the  victim  of  desire. 
It  is  true  that  the  opinions  here  expressed 
make  the  will  to  be  nothing  more  than  the 
mouthpiece,  so  to  speak,  of  aggregate  passions, 
appetites,,  and  instincts.  This  is  going  farther 
than  the  Christian  view  of  man's  depravity  as 
it  is  called,  and  in  the  minds  of  many  is  little 
more  or  less  than  the  extinction  of  manhood, 
by  making  the  will  merely  a  convenient  term 
for  the  resultant  of  our  clustered  passions. 
But  in  any  case  the  opinion  points  to  this, 
that  strength  of  passion  and  feebleness  of 
will  combine  to  work  those  moral  weaknesses 
which   are   the    dishonour   of  mankind.      Pre- 

^*  The  whole  sentence  in  tlie  English  edition  is  as  follows : 
"  The  phenomena  of  affective  life  are  the  source  of  voluntary 
development,  and  the  root  of  our  volitions  is  desire." — Ribot, 
Unglish  Psijchology,  p.  173.  Compare  also  Prof.  Tyndall"^ 
words,  quoted  on  p.  115. 


LECTURE    III.  Ill 


eisely  in  harmony  with  this  speaks  one  of  the 
wisest  and  greatest  of  living-  English  physio- 
logists, whose  carefully  and  earnestly  prepared 
writings  form  a  treasury  of  information.  He 
warns  us  that  frequently  we  mistake  children 
and  call  that  wilfulness  which  is  in  reality  just 
the  contrary  of  will7/<'^//nesS;  being  the  direct 
result  of  the  want  of  habitual  control  over  the 
automatic  activity  of  the  brain  '^'\  His  advice 
then  follows  naturally  enough  that  it  is  by 
guiding  the  activity  with  kindly  suggestions 
that  w^e  shall  be  pursuing  the  wisest  course. 
Similarly  later  on  he  tells  us  that  in  dogged^ 
natures,  in  whom  the  sense  of  duty  is  dead,  we 
ought  to  search  out  the  impressive  parts  of  such 
natures,  and  appeal  to  some  feeling  which  may 
be  roused  into  motive  power.  Weakened  will, 
swept  away  by  powerful  passions,  is  the  analysis 
of  moral  weakness  given  not  by  theologians, 
but  by  men  of  scientific  thought.  There  is  an 
avenue  to  the  will  through  the  affections;  and 
this  is  only  saying  that  the  method  Chiibt 
adopted  is  scientifically  defensible — that  the  way 
to  capture  the  citadel  of  man's  being  and  win  it 


19  a  What  is  called  wilfulness  often  is  in  reality  just  the 
direct  contrary  of  wilfulness,  being  the  direct  result  of  a 
want  of  volitional  control  over  the  automatic  activity  of  the 
brain." — Carpenter,  Mental  Physioloyij,  p.  134. 


112  LECTUEE    III. 


back  to  right  and  to  God  is  through  the  affec- 
tions. Thus  Christ  has  acted.  Like  the  ancient 
conqueror,  who  knew  that  the  surest  path  to 
victory  lay  by  the  river  that  flowed  past  the 
temples  and  palaces  of  the  city,  and  along  its 
dried  bed  poured  his  troops  and  captured  the 
capital :  so  Christ  knew  that  by  the  stream  of 
human  affection  lay  the  road  to  success ;  along 
the  bed  of  that  stream  (dried  up,  alas !  by 
burning  passions)  He  poured  the  fresh  full  river 
of  His  all-conquering  love,  entered  in  triumph 
the  heart  of  man,  and  established  His  kingdom 
within-^.  And  this  method  gives  the  security 
of  permanent  success.  If  through  the  channel 
of  the  affections  the  w^ll  is  to  be  reached,  so 
also  by  the  establishment  of  the  higher  love  and 
the  higher  principle  is  the  heart  fortified  against 
the  intrusion  of  lower  loves.  It  is  the  universal 
experience  of  men  that  no  object  of  affection  can 
be  dislodged  effectively  or  permanently  unless 
another  is  given  to  take  its  place.  The  child 
will  not  abandon  the  injurious  toy  willingly 
unless  you  substitute  another.  The  taste  for  the 
higher  expels  the  taste  for  the  lower.     This  was 

'■^'^  Compare  the  closing  words  of  the  Parridi-;o  : — 
"  Here  viirour  fail  d  the  towering  fantasy: 
But  yet  the  will  rollM  onward,  like  a  wlieel 
In  even  motion,  by  the  love  impelled. 
That  moves  the  sun  in  heaven  and  all  the  stars." 


LECTURE    III.  113 


Christ's  metliocl,  and  this  too  was  the  tenor  of 
His  teaching".  Tlie  expulsion  of  the  evil  spirit 
was  not  enougli  ;  the  good  must  dwell  there, 
or  the  seven  devils  more  wicked  than  the  first 
would  enter  the  empty  and  garnished  chambers 
of  the  souP^.  You  cannot  kill  a  lust  unless  you 
create  a  love  to  take  its  place.  You  may  kill 
the  body,  but  if  you  destroy  the  organism  you 
make  its  regeneration  impossible.  Evil  cannot 
be  eradicated  merely;  nature  abhors  a  vacuum ; 
the  heart  cannot  feed  upon  itself.  Evil  must  be 
overcome  not  by  law,  force,  annihilation ;  but 
expelled  by  good.  Overcome  evil — hate  evil ; 
these  are  good  precepts,  but  vain ;  you  must 
add  the  higher  and  active  precej^t — overcome 
evil  witli  good  ;  ye  that  love  the  Lord — having 
Him  to  love — you  and  you  only  can  truly  learn 
to  hate  evil. 

A  commentary  of  a  practical  character  has 
been  made  on  this  principle  by  a  great  philo- 
sopher of  modern  times  —.     He  tells  us  that  the 

2^  Matt.  xii.  43-45. 

^^  "  Capacity  for  the  nobler  feelings  is  in  most  natures  a 
very  tender  plant,  easily  killed,  not  only  by  hostile  influences, 
Init  by  mere  want  of  sustenance  ;  and  in  the  majority  of 
young  ]iersons  it  speedily  dies  away  if  the  occupation  to 
which  their  position  in  life  has  devoted  them  is  not  favourable 
to  keeping  the  higher  capacity  in  exercise.  Men  lose  their' 
high  aspirations  as  they  lose  their  intellectual  tastes  because 
they  have  not  time  or  opportunity  for  indulging  them." — 
J.  S.  Mill,  Vtilitarianum,  pp.  14,  15. 


114  LECTURE    III. 


ascendency  of  lower  tastes  in  young  men  is  too 
often  the  result  of  the  lack  of  the  opportunity 
of  educating  the  higher.  Flung  early  into 
business^  all  love  or  prospect  of  cultivating 
higher  tastes  is  starved  out,  and  then  having 
nothing  else  left,  the  craving  heart  and  restless 
affections  turn  to  the  lower.  Food  for  the 
higher  is  needed  that  the  love  of  the  lower  may 
be  overcome.  Surely  in  this  the  wisdom  of  the 
gospel  is  vindicated.  By  love  Christ  will  van- 
quish. By  the  higher  love,  not  by  law,  or 
force,  but  by  the  sweet  persuasion  of  love  He 
will  rule  in  the  hearts  of  men.  He  will  not 
destroy  nature  or  close  up  the  avenues  of  affec- 
tion in  men  to  obtain  a  mutilated  conquest ; 
He  will  not  bind  man  to  the  mast  or  fill  his 
ears  with  wax,  lest  the  siren  voices  of  life  seduce 
him  from  his  high  and  lofty  purpose.  He  will 
take  His  seat  amongst  the  rowers,  and  seize  His 
harp  and  sing  of  higher  joys  than  can  be  found 
in  the  arms  of  earth's  sirens.  He  will  carry  the 
ravished  hearts  of  men  with  Him  safe  through 
the  snares  of  the  world,  because  He  will  unseal 
their  ears  to  the  higher  melody,  fill  their  hearts 
with  a  truer  love,  and  shape  their  lives  to  a 
nobler  purpose. 

II.  The  objections  which  have  been  raised. 


LECTURE    in.  115 


(i.)  The  motive  power  evoked  is  called  an  im- 
moral one  '-^'K 

To  plain  people,  who  only  understand  man's 
nature  as  they  see  it  in  every-day  life,  it  seems 
perfectly  natural  that  Gcd  who  is  love  should 
work  through  love.  They  see  that  love  is  in- 
deed the  greatest  power  of  the  world — that  it  is 
love  that  moves  the  young  man  to  his  noblest 
efforts,  that  it  is  love  which  holds  homes  and 
nations  together,  that  all  the  purest  and  most 
glorious  things  of  the  world's  story  have  been 
wrought  by  love.  They  see  love  standing  b}^ 
the  bright  hearth,  they  see  love  leading  the 
soldier  through  snowy  heights  and  amid  merci- 
less artillery,  they  see  love  urging  even  the  clear 
intellect  of  the  man  of  science ;  nay,  they  have 
the  confession  from  the  philosopher's  lips,  "  In- 
deed, I  believe  that  even  the  intellectual  action 
of  a  complete  man  is  consciously  or  unconsciously 
sustained  by  an  undercurrent  of  the  emotions-^." 


^^  "  The  current  of  religion  is  indirectly  adverse  to  morals, 
because  it  is  adverse  to  the  freedom  of  the  intellect.  But 
it  is  also  directly  adverse  to  morals  by  inventing  spurious 
and  bastard  virtues." — Reade,  Martyrdom  of  Man,  p.  520. 

-*  "  But  man  is  not  all  intellect.  If  he  weie  so,  science 
would,  I  believe,  be  h's  proper  nutriment.  But  he  feels  as 
well  as  thinks  ;  he  is  receptive  of  the  sublime  and  beautiful 
as  the  true.  Indeed,  I  believe  that  even  the  intelltciual 
action  of  a  complete   man  is,  consciously  or   unconsciously, 


116  LECTURE    III. 


Seeing  in  every  spot  the  wondrous  and  all  active 
energies  of  love,  it  is  no  surprise,  but  only  the 
simplest  thought,  that  God  should  seek  to  reach 
man  through  that  great  and  all  pervading  power. 
The  wonder  of  tho^e  who  thus  note  love's  power, 
if  they  have  a  wonder  at  all,  is  the  delighted 
wonder  at  finding  in  the  work  of  an  infinite 
Creator  a  method  so  simple  and  so  heart-fitting. 
But  the  simple  folk  may  love  simplicity;  there 
are  critical  spirits  who  are  not  thus  satisfied. 
It  may  satisfy  the  weary  children  of  sorrow  that 
God  speaks  to  their  heart,  calls  them  His  chil- 
dren and  bids  them  trust  Him  in  the  dark,  and 
love  Him  still  through  all  the  strange  changing 
scenes  of  life ;  but  this  appeal  to  affection  and 
love  and  reverence  seems  to  some  an  immoral 
proceeding.  This  is  the  first  objection.  Right 
.should  be,  it  is  said,  done  for  right's  sake  ;  it  is 
immoral  to  ask  men  to  do  right  out  of  regard  to 
another,  however  exalted  or  however  good.  The 
Christian  scheme  is,  therefore,  highly  immoral 
because  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  If  ye  love  Me  keep 


sustained  by  an  undercurrent  of  the  emotions.  It  is  vain 
1  think  to  attempt  to  separate  moral  and  emotional  nature 
from  intellectual  nature.  Let  a  man  but  observe  himself 
an'l  he  will,  if  I  mistake  not,  find  that,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  moral  or  immoral  considerations,  as  the  esse  may  be,  are 
the  motive  force  which  pushes  his  intellect  into  action." — 
TyndalL  Address  to  Students  in  Fragments  of  Science,  \>.  102. 


LECTURE    III.  117 


My  commandments^^'';"  and  the  Apostle  was 
moved  by  unworthy  motives  because  he  de- 
clared that  this  love  impelled  him  forward  in 
his  glorious  and  evangelical  philanthropy,  for 
did  he  not  cry  to  those  who  thought  him  a  mad 
enthusiast,  "  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
us^^."  The  system  which  thus  inspired  men 
with  a  new  spirit  of  philanthropy,  and  sent 
them  forth  full  of  zeal  for  the  lost,  the  sad,  the 
sinful,  eager  to  gather  into  the  fold  of  safety 
the  wandering  and  the  lonely,  is  declared  to  be 
a  system  which  is  at  root  immoral,  for  it  de- 
grades the  true  conscience  of  men  by  leading 
them  to  do  out  of  deference  to  another  that 
which  they  ought  to  do  out  of  a  native  sense 
of  rig-ht.  This  is  the  indictment  against  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ.  It  is  no  exaggeration,  I 
ffive  the  words  of  the  accusers  :  "  Children  are 
taught  to  do  this  and  that,  not  because  it  is 
right,  but  to  please  the  King^"^."     Hear  another: 

"  John  XIV.  15.  ^-'2  Cor,  v.  14, 

"  "  Religion  is  mere  loyalty.  . . .  This  King  it  is  true  forbids 
immorality  and  fraud.  But  the  chief  virtues  required  are  of 
the  lick-spittle  denomination — what  is  called  a  humble  and 
contrite  heart.  When  a  Christian  sins  as  a  man  he  makes 
compensation  as  a  courtier.  When  he  has  injured  a  fellow- 
creature,  he  goes  to  church  with  more  regularity,  he  offers 
up  more  prayers,  he  reads  a  great  number  of  chajiters  in  the 
Bible,  and  so  he  believes  that  he  has  cleared  off  the  sins  that 
are  laid  to  his  account.  This  thon  is  the  immorality  of 
religion  as  it  now  exists.     It   creates  artificial  virtues  and 


118  LECTURE    III. 


"  Next  I  saw  very  painfully  (I  mean  with  the 
pain  of  disgust)  how  much  lower  a  thing  it  is 
to  lead  even  the  loftiest  life  from  regard  to  the 
will  or  mind  of  any  other  being  than  from 
a  natural  working  out  of  our  own  powers  ^^.'' 
In  the  same  spirit  a  Frenchman  has  written  a 
book  in  which  he  affirms  that  the  rule  of  morality 
is  not  to  be  found  in  any  impulse  external  to 
man  ^^. 

But  surely  this  is  a  confusion  or  an  over- 
refinement.  No  one  denies  that  when  right  is 
ascertained  it  ought  to  be  done  for  its  own 
sake,  even  were  there  no  other  motive  in  the 
world  to  command  the  course;  but  it  seldom 
happens  that  there  is  no  other  motive  at  hand. 
It  is  not  conscientious  knowledge  alone  which 
urges  man  to  act ;  there  are  impulses  which 
move  him  as  well.  The  act  is  right,  and 
my  conscience  says  it  should  be  done ;  but  the 
act  will  benefit  father,  brother,  sister,  country, 

sets  them  off  against  actual  vices,  Cliildren  are  taught  to 
do  this  or  that,  not  because  it  is  good,  but  to  please  the  King." 
— Reade,  Martyrdom  of  Man,  p.  533. 

23  Miss  Martineau. 

29  "  This  rule  [i.e.  of  Morality]  is  not  external  to  man  : 
it  dwells  altogether  in  him.  Impersonal  and  obligatory,  x>er  se, 
carrying  with  it  its  own  sanction,  it  imposes  itself  necessarily 
on  all  things  endowed  like  man  with  freedom,  and  like  him 
having  the  consciousness  of  their  destinies  and  tlieir  ends." — 
M.  de^Boutteville,  Etudes  Critiques,  "  La  Moi-ale  de  I'Eglise 
et  la  Morale  Naturelle." 


LECTURE    III.  119 


and  my  affection  says  it  ought  to  be  done ; 
for  there  is  an  obh'gation  of  motive  as  well  as 
of  judgment.  It  would  be  a  most  pedantic 
morality  which  would  exclude  all  motives  of 
love  from  our  actions.     It  would  be  a  dismal 


and  grave  sort  of  human  life  which  would  rise 
up  out  of  such  theories.  The  child  would  have 
to  sa}^  to  the  father :  ^'I  do  this  not  in  the  least 
to  please  you,  or  because  I  love  you,  but  only 
because  I  think  it  is  right;  and  if  I  thought 
I  was  only  urged  to  it  by  my  love  for  you  I 
should  refuse  to  do  it  at  all ;  for  such  an  act 
would  be  most  immoral."  Love  of  home,  love 
of  friends,  love  of  country,  these  have  hitherto 
been  considered  powers  which  have  breathed 
life  through  the  mechanism  of  life,  and  put  the 
pulse  of  healthy  activity  into  our  manhood, 
and  inspired  the  dead  code  of  mere  moralism  : 
but  now  these  must  be  looked  upon  as  immoral 
incentives ;  and  we  are  to  bow  down  before  the 
fetish  of  self-evolved  legalism  which  can  scarcely 
fail  to  grow  into  an  insufferable  egotism.  And 
surely  if  such  a  state  of  things  would  be  in- 
tolerable, we  may  proclaim  it  equally  so  in  the 
sphere  of  religious  action.  On  any  assumption 
of  religion  as  a  thing  possible — setting  aside 
Christianity  altogether — and  coming  to  the 
most  naked  Deism,  it  is  simply  monstrous  to 


120  LECTURE    III. 


declare  that  actions  born  of  love  to  the  great 
Father  Spirit  of  all  are  ?}j6-6?  facto  immoral. 
There  is  a  Creator,  but  it  is  immoral  to  act 
out  of  love  for  Him  ;  there  is  a  Spiritual 
Father  of  human-kind,  but  we  must  not  call 
ourselves  children  lest  we  should  recognise  a 
relationship  which  would  give  Him  a  claim  of 
affection  over  us,  and  might  sway  our  actions. 
Can  the  denaturalisation  process  be  carried 
farther  ? 

Nor  is  this  all.  This  view  ignores  the  grand 
solidarity  of  creation.  It  is  to  invent  a  God, 
whom  we  denominate  an  absolute  tyrant,  whose 
will  and  fancy  may  take  Him  out  of  range  of 
right,  and  the  love  of  whom  may  lead  us  to 
act  wrongly;  but  this  is  to  ignore  the  unity 
of  nature  and  nature's  system.  There  is  a 
solidarity  between  the  Throne  and  the  cottage, 
between  the  King's  Heaven  and  the  most  distant 
parts  of  the  realm  ;  the  good  of  the  hamlet  is 
one  with  the  good  of  the  metropolis  ;  wrong  to 
the  subject  is  wrong  to  the  sovereign;  that 
cannot  be  His  will  which  is  not  right ;  His  will 
is  ever  in  harmony  with  the  highest  good,  and 
is  the  exhibition  of  the  highest  right ;  and  in 
acting  out  of  love  of  Him  we  receive  not  only 
an  impelling  motive,  pure  as  the  motive  of  the 
love  a  child  bears  a  father,  but  also  a  spirit  more 


LECTURE    III.  121 


zealous  to  serve  the  world,  more  keenly  jealous 
not  to  transgress  the  law  of  right. 

For  the  motive  of  love  to  God  is  a  pure  and 
elevating  one.  Proof  of  it  we  shall  find  in 
another  way.  It  is  an  axiom  which  I  am  not 
afraid  to  lay  down — that  a  deterioration  in  the 
quality  of  man^s  acts  is  a  consequence  of  deteri- 
oration of  a  man's  motives.  For  a  long  time  man 
may  detect  no  weakening  in  the  moral  force  of 
his  actions  ;  but  in  the  end  it  will  tell.  The 
poet  who  sings  for  hire  will  soon  take  a  lower 
flight;  but  he  who  sings  because  he  is  God's 
singer  will  mount  up  like  the  lark  to  the  very 
gate  of  God's  paradise.  "A  man,"  said  Dr. 
Johnson,  "is  never  lowered  in  his  capacity 
till  he  is  first  lowered  in  his  tastes."  The 
man  who  sets  his  reward  in  the  claps  of  the 
crowd  will  soon  learn  to  prostitute,  like  Dryden, 
his  glorious  verse  to  unw^orthy  ends.  And  the 
deterioration  of  the  motives  will  betray  itself  in 
weakened  and  worthless  song.  But  where  has 
the  motive  of  love  to  God  proved  itself  the 
source  of  deterioration  to  the  quality  of  the 
work  of  any  human  being  ?  When  Haydn  does 
homage  to  God  before  composing  does  he  sing 
less  loftily  of  the  verdant  glories  of  the  world, 
or  the  poet  voices  of  the  stars  ?  Does  not  the 
power  of  that  motive — love  to  God — heighten 
I 


122  LECTURE   III. 


by  a  holy  and  noble  heroism  the  hearts  of  men  ? 
Since  the  day  the  Apostle  declared  ^'  The  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us  ^^Z'  the  aim  of  all 
human  life  has  been  raised  to  a  higher  level, 
and  the  streams  of  human  charity  have  flowed 
in  broader  and  deeper  channels.  No  deteriora- 
tion of  life  has  betrayed  the  immorality  of 
this  motive. 

But  it  is  a  fact  that  men  must  have  motives ; 
and  when  we  are  told  that  loving  God  is  an 
immoral  motive,  we  perhaps  may  venture  to 
examine  the  motives  which  must  be  accepted  in 
its  place. 

We  are  to  follow  the  natural  working  out  of 
our  own  powers.  This  must  mean  that  there 
is  a  law  within  which,  left  to  itself,  will  mould 
our  life  to  its  fullest  beauty,  if  we  will  only  let 
it  work  itself  out  naturally.  But  this  working 
out  of  our  own  powers  must  either  be  one  in  which 
we  voluntarily  co-operate,  or  which  is  a  mere 
blind  force.  The  law  must  either  be  an  irre- 
sistible necessity,  or  it  must  be  a  law  voluntarily 
acquiesced  in  and  co-operated  with  by  our  own 
will.  If  it  be  a  law  of  our  being  and  irresistible, 
then  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  obedience  to  it 
should  be  called  noble,  or  a  higher  mode  of  life 


^  2  Cor.  V.  14. 


LECTURE   III.  123 


than  a  life  which  has  been  shaped  by  a  spirit 
of  love  to  God.  An  act  or  life  cannot  be  con- 
sidered morally  low,  or  unusually  lofty,  if  that 
life  could  not  be  other  than  it  is  ;  and  it  is 
strange  that  lives  which  are  the  out-working  of 
non-moral  forces  should  be  denominated  noble, 
and  Christian  lives  called  immoral  by  those 
who  obscure  all  morality  by  destroying  all  dif- 
ferences between  necessity  and  free  moral  action. 
But  if  it  be  a  law  within  which  is  voluntarily 
adopted  or  acquiesced  in  by  the  will,  then  who 
is  to  judge  of  the  code  of  right  which  is  thus 
adopted  ?  There  isj  it  is  said,  the  inner  light 
in  man's  soul,  and  this,  and  this  only,  should 
we  follow.  We  grant  an  inner  law_,  a  moral 
code  within  ;  but  the  whole  history  of  the  world 
shows  us  that  this,  though  sufficient  to  recognise 
what  is  right,  has  never,  without  external  aid, 
been  sufficient  to  lead  men  to  do  right.  One 
truth  of  all  religion  is  that  the  soul  must  re- 
main barren  of  all  high  and  noble  deeds  unless 
some  outward  stimulus  quickens  it  into  activity; 
some  love  must  move  the  spirit  into  work. 

But  another  objection  to  the  method  of  Chris- 
tianity is  that  it  is  unnecessary.  We  can  satisfy 
all  the  conditions  requisite  for  establishing  a 
pure  religious  morality  without  having  resort 
to  Christian  theology,  for  we  can  have  our 
T  2 


124  LECTURE   III. 


supreme  moral  centre  of  emotion — love ;  and 
we  can  liave  our  intellectual  centre  of  thought 
in  a  dominant  power  without  us.  Humanity 
shall  supply  these ;  the  love  of  race  shall  be 
our  motive  force,  and  the  good  of  the  race  the 
aim  of  our  morality. 

There  is  so  much  beauty  in  this  that  it  seems 
ungracious  to  point  out  that  we  have  no  security 
that  this  so-called  love  of  the  race  may  not  be 
a  very  defective  moral  motive.  Cynics  have 
told  us  that  our  hatred  of  injustice  is  little  more 
than  our  dread  of  suffering  injustice.  If  there 
is  any  sting  in  this,  the  truth  gives  the  sting. 
But  more  than  cynics  have  spoken  the  same, 
and  showed  us  that  the  jealousy  with  which 
moral  interests  are  guarded  is  very  largely  due 
to  our  deeply-rooted  self-interest.  The  love  of 
humanity,  the  enthusiasm  for  the  race,  is  not, 
then,  so  wondrous  a  motive  force  as  to  be  abso- 
lutely above  the  possibility  of  being  marred  by 
unworthy  elements. 

But  the  difficulty  here  seems  to  be  to  settle 
the  code  of  action.  The  interest  of  the  race  is 
to  be  the  guiding  thought  in  the  working  out 
of  this  morality;  and  men  have  thought  that  by 
a  careful  survey  of  human  needs  and  character 
they  might  establish  a  scientific  basis  of  morals, 
which  could  be  applied  to  govern  all  the  actions 


LECTURE    III.  125 


of  men.  For  this  system  to  reach  perfection 
we  must  wait  till  history  has  unrolled  her  scroll 
to  its  fullest  length.  The  interests  of  the  race 
can  only  be  the  interests  of  the  majority  of  the 
race;  but  what  majority?  The  majority  of  the 
now  race,  or  the  majority  of  the  race  including 
those  who  are  yet  unborn  ? 

But  supposing  all  were  fixed  —  the  true 
scientific  code  arranged  and  its  infallible  inter- 
preters appointed,  what  would  it  amount  to  ? 
It  w^ould  be  found  that  the  true  scientific  code 
of  morals  was  simply  an  enumeration  of  those 
rules  of  life  which  were  in  conformity  with  the 
laws  of  the  universe.  The  utmost  that  we  could 
ascertain,  in  the  widest  and  fullest  induction, 
would  be  that  line  of  conduct  which  was  dictated 
by  the  general  effect  of  those  laws  which  make 
up  the  order  of  creation,  and  we  should  reach 
by  this  means  a  scientifie  confirmation  that 
all  the  high  and  holy  laws  which  Christ  had 
sanctioned  and  taught  were  precisely  those  the 
observance  of  which  would,  when  scientifically 
considered,,  promote  the  happiness  of  man.  The 
experience  of  the  Jewish  ceremonial  code  would 
l)e  repeated.  Many  of  those  laws  which  the 
Jew  was  enjoined  to  observe  appeared  to  him 
simply  religious  ordinances.  The  eye  of  later 
observation  has  seen   what   the    Jew,    perhaps. 


126  LECTUEE    III. 


never  saw — that  the  laws  he  so  religiously 
observed  were  largely  sanitary  laws,  enjoined 
for  the  health  and  happiness  of  the  people. 
Thus  would  it  be,  I  believe,  with  a  full  and 
complete  code  (were  such  possible)  of  all  the  laws 
which  would  promote  human  happiness  ;  they 
would  be  found  just  those  which  are  now  com- 
manded as  the  laws  of  moral  and  religious  life. 
It  is  in  this  sense  true  that  no  new  discoveries 
are  to  be  made  in  morality.  The  discoveries  of 
science  will  serve  to  exhibit  the  wisdom  of  the 
moral  code  Christ  gave  to  man. 

And  when  this  discovery  was  made,  would 
an  obedience  to  such  a  code — an  obedience 
only  rendered  because  the  code  does  promote 
happiness  and  is  in  harmony  with  the  order  of 
the  universe  —  be  one  whit  more  moral  than 
that  which  Christians  follow  when  they  say,  "We 
follow  these  commandments  of  God  because 
we  know  He  guides  us  right,  gives  us  laws 
which  are  in  harmony  with  the  order  of  the 
universe,  which  He  unlerstands  fully  and  we  do 
not,  and  which,  observed  by  all,  will  promote 
the  truest  good  and  highest  happiness  of  all '  ? 

But  1  think  we  may  venture  to  go  further, 
and  say  that  the  code  of  Christ,  which  puts 
happiness  before  us  as  the  aim,  is  a  more  fertile 
one  than  that  which  speaks  only  of  aggregate 


LECTURE    III.  127 


happiness,  and  that   because  it    starts  from   a 
higher   platform.     The  axiom    of  the    modern 
philosopher  would  be — Whatever  promotes  the 
greatest  happiness  of  mankind  gives  us  the  true 
code  of  holiness.     The  Christian  starts  from  the 
other  side.     Whatever  is  holy  must  contribute 
to  the  general  and   ultimate  happiness  of  the 
world.     Both  are  at  one  in  the  belief  that  the 
law  of  holiness  and  the  law  of  happiness  will  be 
found  identical.     It  is  a  truth  which  faith  be- 
lieves and  which  science  may  demonstrate.    But, 
meanwhile,  it  seems  that  the  old  impulse — this 
is  right,  this  is  holy;  it  must,  therefore,  end  in 
the  happiness  of  men — is  the  higher  and   the 
truer   impulse  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,   the 
very  instinct  which  seeks  the  good  of  human- 
kind— and  which  is  to  take  the  place  of  religion 
and  faith  in  God — is  an  instinct  which  owes 
its  origin  to  Christianity.     This  enthusiasm  of 
humanity  is  a  noble  impulse ;  it  is  a  true  in- 
stinct ;  it  is  in  the  moral  world  as  a  most  fair 
flower ;    but  it  is  a  flower  which  was  plucked 
from  the  garden  of  Christ,   and   I  think  that 
those  who  plucked  it  have  left  the  root  behind  ; 
for  no  force,  no  motive  which  merely  puts  before 
us  the  far-off  good  of  a  far-off  humanity,  will 
ever  completely  supplant  the  affection  which  is 
personal  between  the  soul  and  God,  or  create 


128  LECTURE    III. 


an  enthusiasm  equal  to  tliat  which  Christ  created 
when  He  said,  '^  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  these,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
Me  21." 

(ii.)  A  second  objection  is  that  the  command 
to  love  is  impossible.  It  would  be  good  to  be 
able  to  love  God ;  the  scheme  is  beautiful ;  the 
method  is  fair  and  theoretically  wise  ;  but  it 
is  impossible,  whether  we  consider  the  nature 
of  God  or  the  nature  of  man. 

I.  The  nature  of  God.  It  is,  I  grant,  very 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  love  God  when 
He  is  represented  to  us  as  a  God  of  definitions, 
as  unfathomable,  infinitely  great,  infinitely 
powerful,  eternal ;  for  those  words  convey  ideas 
of  vastness  and  force ;  they  may  command  our 
awe,  they  cannot  command  our  love.  But  it  is 
forgotten  that  these  terms  are  only  the  technical 
side  of  Christianity;  these  are  terms  which  are 
most  needful  in  discussing  the  scientific  aspect 
of  religion ;  they  have  served  a  good  and  useful 
purpose  in  defining  and  defending  the  faith  ; 
they  are  as  useful  as  the  technical  terms  and 
scientific  classifications  of  botany;  they  are 
essential  to  the  philosophy  or  science  of  religion, 
Init  they  are  not  in  the  least  necessary  for  its 


Matt.  XXV.  40. 


LECTURE    III.  129 


enjoyment.  There  is  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  between  knowing  about  God  and  know- 
ing God,  between  being  able  to  discuss  His 
attributes  and  really  loving  Him.  It  is  in 
Christianity  preeminently  that  the  loving  God, 
the  living  to  Him,  is  put  forward  and  made 
greater  in  importance  than  the  being  able  to 
define  and  to  argue.  Knowledge,  prophecy, 
tongues,  the  erudition,  the  gifts,  the  theology 
of  the  Church  are  nothing  compared  with 
charity.  Christ's  commandment  is  not  ^^  Thou 
shalt  be  able  to  define  God,  and  to  hedge  Him 
round  with  the  fences  of  your  ingenious  defi- 
nitions ;■"  but  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God  ^^."  It  is  indeed  curious  to  note  that  the 
very  schemes  of  thought  which  are  most  hostile 
to  Christian  theology  are  those  which  are  slowly 
substituting  deities  of  definition  for  the  Father 
of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,   whom   Jesus  Christ 

32  "  To  know  is  not  to  have  a  notion  which  stands  in  the 
place  of  the  true  object,  but  to  be  in  direct  cummunion  with 
the  true  object.  And  this  is  exactly  most  possible  where 
theory,  or  complete  knowledge,  is  least  possible.  We  know 
the  '  abysmal  deeps '  of  personality,  but  have  no  theory  of 
them.  We  know  love  and  hatred,  but  have  no  theory  of 
til  em.  We  know  God  better  than  we  know  ourselves,  better 
than  we  know  any  other  human  being,  better  than  we  know 
either  love  or  hatred,  but  have  no  theory  of,  simply  because 
we  stand  under,  and  not  above.  Him.  We  can  recognise 
and  learn,  but  never  comprehend." — Hutton,  Theoloyicul 
Assays,  p.  82. 


130  LECTURE    III. 


revealed  to  mankind.  It  is  in  the  writings  of 
theosopMsts,  not  in  the  writings  of  Christian 
men,  that  we  hear  a  jargon  prolific  of  techni- 
calities ;  it  is  there  that  we  read  of  •'  streams  of 
tendency,"  the  relation  of  man  to  *^the  unseen," 
to  "the  unknown,^'  to  "the  invisible,"  to  "the 
unknowable."  However  useful  such  words  may 
be,  they  are  not  the  terms  in  which  Christianity 
tells  her  message  to  mankind.  She  no  more 
thinks  of  adopting  even  her  treasured  expres- 
sions of  theological  truth  by  the  bedside  of  the 
weary  and  the  sad,  than  the  doctor  does  of  per- 
plexing his  patient  with  the  dialect  of  the  lecture- 
room.  Practical  daily  Christian  teaching  in  its 
work  among  men  uses  plain  speech,  and  dis- 
cards the  cant  of  the  Schools,  and  leaves  to  the 
cultured  few  to  regenerate  a  world  and  comfort 
human  hearts  with  longitudinous  phraseology^^, 


33  «  From  the  point  of  view  of  those  who  know,  or  have 
ever  known,  the  majestic  symmetry  of  any  organised  religion, 
how  flippant  ai-e  the  terms  in  which  we  so  often  hear  religion 
described!  'The  relation  of  man  to  the  unseen,'  'to  the 
unknown,'  'to  the  invisible,'  say  many  ;  and  one  philosopher 
has  gone  so  far  as  to  assure  us  that  it  is  '  the  relation  of  man 
to  the  Unknowable.'  Another  declares  that  it  is  '  what  the 
Immensities  have  to  say  to  us.'  Another  that  it  is  'the  sense 
of  the  stream  of  Tendency,'  &c.  One  who  has  written  more 
about  religion  tlian  ten  theologians  deliberately  assures  us, 
at  the  close  of  thirty  volumes,  that  it  is  '  a  great  heaven-high 
Unquesti<mabiHty,'  or  'the  inner  light  of  a  man's  soul.* 
Well,  but  the  inner  light  of  some  men's  souls  tells  them  to 
get  on  in  the  world — to  eat,  drink,  and  be  meiry.  The  Immen- 


LECTURE   III.  131 


and  so  help  men  towards  some  great  and  heaven- 
high  unquestionability.  Ordinary  Christianity 
has  eased  our  shoulders  of  such  burdens  and 
delivered  us  from  making  pots  among  the 
children  of  a  strange  language.  "  Fitness  and 
kinship  are  the  truly  great  things  for  us^  not 
force  and  massiveness  and  length  of  days^*." 
The  words  are  not  the  words  of  a  Christian 
believer,  but  a  Christian  believer  would  willingly 
adopt  them  when  he  feels  that  his  message  is 
not  to  explain  to  men  infinite  and  eternal  force 
or  all-pervading  might_,  but  to  tell  them  of  a 
Father,  who  is  strong  enough  to  save  them, 
who  loves  and  longs  for  love  in  return,  who 
needs  nothing,  and  j^et  finds  nothing  as  it 
should  be  till  the  love  of  His  creatures  is  given 
back  to  Him,  who  feels  that  one  alienated 
heart  in  His  universe  is  as  a  discordant  note 
in  the  great  harmony  of  worlds  and  spirits, 
and   who,   fatherlike,    cannot  endure   that  any 


sities  tell  many  men  to  make  hay  while  the  sun  shines  ;  the 
greeJy  speculator  finds  the  stream  of  Tendency  take  him  into 
swindling  adventures  ;  the  utter  reprobate  has  long  set  his 
teeth  with  a  curse,  that  religion  certainly  is  the  Unknowable, 
and  treats  of  the  Unknowable  only.  Now,  I  say  to  men  who 
have  known  what  a  working  religion  is,  how  hollow  would 
such  phrases  ring  !  Take  such  men  as  St.  Bernard  or  Aquinas, 
or  Cromwell,  or  Calvin,  or  Wesley,  or  Ken,  to  speak  only 
of  Christians.  They  were  not  to  be  put  off  with  only  a 
phrase." — Mr.  Fred.  Harrison. 

^*  The  late  Professor  Clifford  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 


132  LECTURE    III. 


eliild    of  His   should   meet  Him  with  averted 
face  ^^. 

And  does  not  this  very  difficulty,  that  we 
cannot  love  mere  abstractions,  spiritual  essences 
of  unknown  and  infinite  greatness,  teach  us  an 
argument  in  support  of  the  Christian  faith? 
It  is  true,  perfectly  true,  we  cannot  love  the 
infinite  and  incomprehensible;  and  it  is  out 
of  this,  among  other  things,  that  the  fitness 
of  the  Christian  creed  is  seen.  Here  is  the  very 
spot  where  the  incarnation  becomes  not  a  mere 
doctrine,  but  a  fact  for  which  human  hearts 
yearn.  God,  not  far  off,  not  dwelling  in  "  the 
solitary  amplitudes  of  boundless  space  ^"^j"   but 

^^  By  the  early  Christians  all  these  things  were  directly 
traced  to  tlie  Master  they  so  dearly  loved.  .  .  .  The  universe 
to  them  was  transfigured  by  love.  .  .  .  Christianity  offered  a 
deeper  consolation  than  any  prospect  of  endless  life,  or  of 
millennial  glories.  It  taught  the  weary  the  sorrowing  and 
the  lonely  to  look  up  to  heaven  and  say  "  Thou  God  carest 
for  me  ! " — Reade,  Martyrdom  of  Man. 

^^  "God  is  so  great  that  he  does  not  deign  to  have  per- 
sonal relations  with  us  human  atoms  called   men." — Ibid. 

V-  .'^37.. 

Against  this  idea  of  God  the  whole  teaching  of  Christianity 
protests.  If  there  is  one  sheep  lost,  the  shepherd  will  seek 
it :  there  is  joy  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  :  there  is 
nothing  too  small,  there  is  none  too  insignificant  for  Him  to 
notice  ;  for  His  tender  mercy  is  over  all.  The  French  lines 
quoted  by  Pressense  are  nearer  the  truth  : — 

"  Tous  les  cieux,  et  leur  splendeur 
Ne  valent  pas,  pour  ta  gloire 
Un  seal  soupir  d'un  seul  coeur.'* 

With  this  we  may  compare  the  remarkable  language  of  John 


LECTURE    III.  133 


God  manifest  in  the  flesh — looking  into  our 
faces  with  eyes  of  love  that  can  read  our  soul's 
depths,  and  saying  in  effect,  "  I  know  you  can- 
not love  the  distant,  the  impalpable,  the  infinite, 
the  Omnipotent ;  but  behold  !  see  Me !  handle 
Me !  feel  the  touch  of  My  hand  upon  your 
hand,  the  breath  of  My  spirit  upon  your  brow; 
look  upon  Me  as  manifest  in  your  midst,  sigh- 
ing over  your  sorrows  and  sharing  them,  visiting 
you  in  the  robe  and  veil  of  flesh,  which  proves 
and  establishes  kinship  with  you/'  "  He  that 
hath  seen  Me  hath  seen  the  Father  3^."  Trul}^, 
when  I  hear  men  crying  we  cannot  love  infini- 
tudes and  vast  magnitudes  and  oppressive  Omni- 
potence, I  think  I  hear  a  voice  speaking  sadly 
as  it  spoke  eighteen  centuries  ago  in  Judsea, 
"  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet 
have  you  not  known  Me^^?" 

2.  But  it  is  declared  impossible,  because  of 
the  nature  of  man.  Love  cannot  be  commanded. 
Even  were   it   possible  to    love  God,  it  is  not 

Stuart  Mill :  "  It  is  the  God  incarnate,  more  than  the  God  of 
the  Jews,  or  of  Nature,  who  being  idealized  has  taken  so 
great  and  salutary  a  hold  on  the  modern  mind.  And  what- 
ever else  may  be  taken  away  from  us  by  rational  criticism, 
Christ  is  still  left ;  a  unique  figure,  not  more  unlike  all  his 
precursors  than  all  his  followers,  even  tliose  who  had  the 
direct  benefit  of  his  personal  teaching." — Essaij  on  Reli(jion, 

P-  253- 

^■^  John  xiv.  9. 
38  Ibid. 


134  LECTURE    III. 


possible  to  love  Him  by  command ;  for  love, 
true  love,  is  a  free  and  scornful  spirit.  Nay, 
she  is  too  noble  to  be  bound  or  bought ;  she 
scoflPs  at  your  command  ;  she  spurns  your  bribe ; 
she  laughs  alike  at  the  treasure  poured  at  her 
feet,  and  the  lash  and  chain  brandished  over 
her  head.  She  must  be  free,  or  cease  to  be. 
I  grant  it.  God  did  so  make  love  ;  she  rises 
in  the  heart  often  the  solitary  witness  of  the 
departed  virtues  of  the  heart  of  man.  But  mark 
that  if  she  be  true,  free,  and  noble,  it  is  no  im- 
moral method  to  hold  parley  with  her.  If  she 
is  pure,  strong,  and  scorns  to  be  commanded, 
she  becomes  the  best  and  most  fittins-  am- 
bassadress  between  the  exiled  heart  and  its 
God. 

No,  she  cannot  be  commanded;  and  though 
the  Christian  precept  is,  '^  Thou  shalt  love  the 
Lord  ^9,"  &c.,  yet  it  is  not  to  be  understood  as 
being  an  enslaving  command.  There  is  a  reason, 
a  fitness,  an  inducement,  an  appeal  to  love.  God, 
indeed,  might  well  look  for  the  love  of  His 
creatures  ;  but  apart  from  this,  there  is  that  in 
Him  which,  as  we  say,  commands  love.  When 
we  speak  of  a  man  commanding  our  respect,  we 
do  not  conceive  of  an  angry  coxcomb  hectoring 
us  into  a  servile  and  sycophantic  adulation  ;  we 
2®  Matt.  xxii.  37. 


LECTURE    III.  135 


think  of  a  man  so  just  and  true,  so  honest  and 
generous,  so  pure  and  high-minded,  that  it  would 
argue  a  fault  in  ourselves  if  we  did  not  yield 
him  the  unbidden  homage  of  our  respect.  It 
is  but  a  faint  illustration  :  but  it  will  suffice  to 
warn  us  that  God  does  not  issue  a  naked  and 
inconsequential  command,  an  arbitrary  and  un- 
reasonable precept.  He  made  the  hearty  and 
He  knows  well  enough  that  to  do  this  would  be 
to  mock  the  heart  He  made.  He  bids  us  look 
and  love  ;  for  He  knows  that  when  our  eyes 
will  but  look  to  Him  and  see  Him  as  He  is — 
not  as  we  have  painted  Him  to  be — we  cannot 
but  love  Him  '*^,  for  as  He  has  revealed  Himself 
to  us  in  His  Son,  so  shall  we  find  in  Him  all 
those  elements  which  are  the  fit  and  needful 
inducements  to  love — which  the  heart  seeing 
must,  unless  sodden  with  sin,  love.     And  what 


*^  "No  power  is  so  fresh  and  living  as  the  power  of  His 
name  to  those  who  have  learned  to  know  Him  as  He  appears 
in  tlie  simple  and  touching  story  of  His  disciples.  He  is 
represented  now  as  a  mild  effeminate  Christ  who  repels  men 
of  mind  and  power ;  or  as  a  kind  of  irascible  pope,  demanding 
an  unworthy  subservience  ;  and  the  religion  He  founded  is 
stigmatized  as  iit  only  for  an  age  of  barbarians.  But  if  from 
this  Christ  of  human  invention  you  turn  to  the  Christ  of  the 
gospels  you  will  find  the  reverse  of  all  these  misconceptions, 
which  arise  not  from  the  progress  of  science,  but  from  the 
shameful  religious  ignorance  which  prevails  among  us.  You 
will  then  recognize  the  manly  strength  which  blends  itself 
in  Christ  with  infinite  goodness." — Pressensd,  Jesus  Christ, 
p.  9. 


136  LECTURE    III. 


are  these  essential  elements  to  love  ?  Roughly 
speaking — There  must  be  beauty  to  awaken  ad- 
miration, wisdom  to  waken  reverence,  character 
to  waken  respect,  personal  kindness  to  waken 
attachment.  It  is  through  these  that  love  not 
only  grows,  but  must  grow.  Beauty  to  catch 
the  eye,  wisdom  to  enchain  the  understanding, 
character  to  impress  the  conscience,  kindness  to 
rouse  the  heart.  Love  cannot  withstand  a  siege 
with  these  forces,  if  she  be  love  at  all.  And  this 
we  find  in  Christ.  Behold  Him  :  has  He  not 
beauty?  His  life  is  like  an  idyll  :  there  is  the 
freshness  of  the  morning  upon  Him.  He  has 
evermore  the  dew  of  His  youth,  the  charm  of 
it  is  perennial.  ^'  All  true  moral  progress  is 
made  through  admiration,  and  it  is  character- 
istic of  our  religion  that  it  makes  a  greater  use 
of  example  than  any  other  system  ^^."  The 
beauty  of  that  life  captivated  the  most  recent 
philosopher  of  France ;  the  "Imitation  of  Christ" 
was  his  book  companion  during  his  closing 
years.  And,  behold,  here  is  wisdom  also  :  "  He 
is  the  wisest  among  the  holy,  and  the  holiest 
among  the  wise,"  is  the  exclamation  of  one  him- 
self a  wise  man.  Christ's  words  have  a  quiet 
force  in  them  ;    they  have  sunk  deep  into  the 

*^   Prof.  Seeley,  Lectures  and    Essays,  p.  262,   quoted  in 
Eaton's  Bampton  Lectures,  p.  35. 


LECTURE    Til.  137 


mind  of  the  world ;  we  use  them  and  are  hardly 
aware  of  it ;  we  scarcely  know  how  much  even 
as  a  thinker  Christ  has  moulded  the  thoughts 
and  the  phrases  of  mankind.  Behold,  also,  here 
is  character  to  waken  respect :  "  It  was  reserved 
for  Christ  to  present  to  the  world  an  ideal  cha- 
racter, which,  througli  all  the  changes  of  eighteen 
centuries,  has  inspired  the  hearts  of  men  with 
an  impassioned  love."  So  writes  an  impartial 
historian  *^.  '^  Christ  is  the  one  character  with- 
out the  idea  of  whom  in  the  mind  personal  piety 
is  impossible.^'  So  writes  a  German  sceptic  ^''\ 
And  here,  finally,  is  loving-kindness  in  all  its 
force,  acting,  suffering,  and  dying  ;  a  love  which 
dwells  not  in  lofty  regions,  nor  on  celestial 
heights  alone,  but  which  goes  about  doing  good, 
which  endures  the  pain,  the  sorrow,  the  shame, 
the  cruel  thorns,  the  piercing  nails,  the  painful 
cross.  It  is  not  from  the  throne  of  the  universe 
that  God  calls  most  strongly  for  love.  It  is 
from  Bethlehem,  from  Nazareth,  from  Calvary, 


*^  Lecky,  History  of  European  Morals,  vol.  i.  p.  4. 

*^  Strauss.  Compare  the  language  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte : 
*'  Across  a  chasm  of  eighteen  hunched  years  Jes-us  Christ 
makes  a  demand  which  is  of  all  others  ilifficult  to  satisfy. 
He  asks  for  the  human  heart ;  He  will  have  it  entirely  to 
Himself.  He  demands  it  unconditionally,  and  forthwith  His 
demand  is  granted,  millions  of  men  to-day  would  die  for  Him. 
This  it  is  which  proves  to  me  quite  convincingly  the  divinity 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

K 


138  LECTURE   III. 


for  here  are  written  these  sweet  incentives  to 
love,  a  beauty  to  win  us^  an  eloquence  of  loving* 
deeds  to  woo  us,  and  a  life  of  suffering  and  a 
death  of  pain  to  call  forth  gratitude  and  af- 
fection to  Him  who  loved  us  and  gave  Himself 
for  us. 

And  this  appeal  has  not  been  in  vain. 

Time  fails  us  to  point  out  its  strength  in 
contrast  with  the  weakness  of  other  creeds. 
There  have  been  splendid  religions,  full  of  noble 
thoughts  and  sad  pathetic  utterances,  and  won- 
drous heroism,  but  they  have  been  objects  of 
contemplation  rather  than  forces  of  action.  They 
have  beauty,  proportion,  strength,  but  it  is  a 
beauty  which  is  unfinished  and  a  proportion 
which  is  incomplete.  They  are  as  a  splendid 
torso,  in  which  we  can  trace  the  hand  of  a  master- 
genius  in  delicacy  and  force  of  touch,  in  vigor- 
ous attitude,  and  well-moulded  form  ;  but  its 
power  has  gone,  the  well-poised  head,  the  strong- 
planted  feet,  the  pliant  mouth,  are  not  here. 
They  are  creeds,  but  they  have  no  "speculation" 
in  their  eyes  ;  they  are  beautiful,  but  they  are 
dead;  they  are  grand,  or  poetic  guesses,  but 
they  are  only  partial.  There  have  been  noble 
conceptions  of  the  religious  kingdom,  just  as  there 
were  wonderful  guesses  at  the  order  of  the  hea- 
venly kingdom,  all  of  them  based  on  some  fact, 


LECTURE   III.  139 


or  bringing  to  light  some  truth.  God  is  beauty, 
said  some ;  for  see,  all  things  are  fair  in  form 
and  colour ;  these  are  the  varied  hints  and  move- 
ments of  His  presence  ;  and  all  this  trembling 
beauty  is  but  the  heaving  bosom  of  God.  God 
is  harmony,  said  another :  listen  how  all  na- 
ture teems  with  music — the  trilling  brook,  the 
many-voiced  ocean,  the  loud-speaking  thunder, 
the  heart-pleasing  cadence  of  falling  rain  ;  it  is 
melody  which  presides  over  all :  God  is  harmony. 
Then  said  a  third,  God  is  thought :  I  pierce 
beneath  all  sight  and  sound  ;  I  detect  the  pro- 
found significance  of  things,  the  wondrous  un- 
changed thought  which  lies  beneath  all  changing 
phenomena ;  God  rises  before  me  as  my  thoughts 
evolve,  and  God  is  thought.  But  to  all  the 
answers  came,  ^'  Eye  hath  not  seen  His  beauty ; " 
ear  hath  not  heard  Him ;  mind  hath  not  con- 
ceived Him. 

God  is  beautiful  indeed,  and  His  ways  are 
ways  of  harmony,  and  His  thoughts  are  not 
as  our  thoughts ;  but  He  is  not  beauty,  nor  har- 
mony, nor  thought :  He  is  love ;  and  love  is 
pure ;  so  He  came  as  a  little  child,  swaddled 
in  a  manger,  and  stretching  forth  a  hand  of 
help  to  humankind.  And  love  is  almost  ever 
sorrowing,  so  He  came  as  a  man  of  sorrows. 
And  love  here  is  always  suffering,  so  He  suffered 

K  2, 


140  LECTURE    III. 


the  thorns,  the  scourge^  the  cross  **.  And  thus 
men  learned  to  love,  through  a  love  which  did 
not  slumber,  nor  sleep,  but  which  laboured,  and 
wept  and  died.  Thus  Christ's  power  grew. 
From  His  cross  He  reached  "  His  pierced  hand 
and  lifted  the  old  world"  from  its  base.  He 
transformed  all  things.  He  gave  to  poetry  her 
highest  themes.  He  gave  power  to  art ;  He 
became  a  well-spring  of  inspiration  ;  He  guided 
the  hand  of  Raphael,  and  the  chisel  of  Michel 
Angelo  ;  He  gave  unwonted  pathos  to  the  brush 
of  Rubens,  and  refined  the  coarse  genius  of 
Murillo ;  He  drew  confessions  of  love  from  men 
of  thought ;  He  put  high  and  calming  hope 
into  weakened  and  desponding  minds ;  He  ga- 
thered round  His  cross  a  great  multitude,  which 
no  man  can  number,  and  one  song  rises  from 
their  various  voices,  "  Thou  hast  loved  us,  and 
Thou  hast  washed  us  from  our  sins."  The 
chorus  so  rises  in  marvellous  harmony  because 
one  love  animates  them  all,  and  one — the  King 
of  Love — has  set  up  His  throne  in  the  hearts 
of  all. 

Again,  then,  we  ask.  Where  is  the  Kingdom 


**  "  All  human  heroism  pales  before  His  sacrifice.  He  died 
to  deliver  souls,  and  never  vs^as  moral  freedom  more  gloriously 
asserted  than  on  that  day  of  His  agony." — Pressensd,  Jesus 
Christ,  p.  lo. 


LECTURE   III.  141 


of  God  ?  Again  we  say  it  is  within — it  is  in 
human  hearts  touched  with  gratitude  and  tuned 
to  love.  If  you  look  for  it  elsewhere,  without 
first  looking  here,  you  will  mistake  the  scaffold- 
ing for  the  building,  and  be  scandalised  by  its 
ungainly  features  and  human  advertisements 
which  spread  themselves  over  the  hoardings. 
But  if  you  will  first  look  within,  you  will  find 
it  afterwards  without  you  ;  for  it  is  in  the  heart, 
transfigured  by  love  divine,  that  the  dawning  of 
God's  day  is  first  seen.  If  you  will  recognise 
His  Kingdom,  and  know  that  you  are  in  it,  be- 
hold, before  all,  the  Kingdom  of  God  must  be 
within  you. 


LECTFEE    IV. 


**  The  kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." — Luke  xvii.  21. 

A  RELIGION  for  man  must  be  fitted  to  man : 
it  must  address  him  as  a  being  living  in  the 
present,  but  as  one  who  ever  faces  a  future.  I 
know  that  it  is  sometimes  thought  and  some- 
times said  that  man  is  of  the  present  alone  : 
there  is  a  sense,  but  it  is  a  very  limited  sense, 
in  which  this  is  true  enough;  we  cannot  be 
sure  of  more  than  the  present.  Of  all  human 
work  and  human  effort  it  is  as  true  as  it  is  of 
religious  opportunity,  that  To-day  is  the  Day  of 
Salvation.  It  is  only  in  the  sense,  then^  that 
the  uncertainty  of  life  gives  us  no  security  that 
the  morrow  shall  be  ours,  because  God  doles 
out  to  us  the  golden  hours  one  by  one,  that  we 
can  be  said  to  be  of  the  present  alone.  We  are 
beings  with  a  future,  and  our  connection  with 
that  future  is  written  upon  half  our  language 
and  half  our  thoughts.  Our  daily  words  tell  us 
this.     Wish,   desire,   hope,  fear,   suspense,  am- 


LECTURE    IV.  143 


bition,  prudence,  all  rise  up  before  us  and  pro- 
phesy to  us  as  beings  that  are  not  of  the  present 
only,  but  of  the  future  ^.  Now  to  every  period 
of  our  life  there  is  a  presiding*  angel :  over  the 
past  Memory  presides;  over  the  present  Duty; 
and  over  the  future  Hope.  And  therefore  it  is 
not  enough  that  a  religion  should  be  a  code  of 
morals,  or  an  elaborate  ceremonial,  or  a  forgive- 
ness, or  a  love :  it  must  also  be  a  guide,  and 
have  a  message  for  Hope.  All  religions  have  in 
various  ways  tried  to  say  something  to  men's 
instincts  of  Hope.  Every  scheme  which  ig-nored 
it,  or  deceived  it  with  false  promises,  has  ended 
in  failure.  The  cry  of  disappointment,  of  ex- 
pectation, of  sorrow,  of  bereavement,  has  been 
ever  a  cry  addressed  to  the  future ;  but  the  iron 
doors  of  the  Hereafter  remained  fast  closed  till 
Christ  opened  the  Kingdom  of  Hope  and  Heaven 
to  all  believers.  Christ  came  with  a  message 
of  Hope :  He  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light :  He  told  mankind  that  Death  was  a  de- 
feated foe :  He  gave  a  future  to  man :  He 
pointed  out  to  him  a  destiny  and  a  home. 

No  part  of  the  Christian  scheme  has  been  so 


^  *'  Que  cbacun  ex.amine  ses  pen3(?e.s,  11  les  trouvera  toujours 
occupies  au  passe  et  a  Tavenir.  ...  La  present  n'est  jamais 
notre  fin  ;  le  passe  et  le  present  sont  nos  moyens ;  le  seul 
avenir  est  notre  fin." — Pascal. 


144  LECTURE    IV. 


strongly  assailed  as  the  Christian  Hope.  It  has 
been  represented  as  being  enfeebling  to  man's 
moral  nature,  impoverishing  to  his  social  in- 
stincts, and  gross  in  its  form.  On  the  contrary, 
I  believe  that  it  is  elevating  to  man's  character  ; 
quickening  to  his  sense  of  social  duty;  and  that 
while  satisfying  his  legitimate  hopes,  it  presents 
to  him  a  large  and  an  ennobling  prospect. 

I.  The  Hope  is  elevating  to  Man's  character. 

It  is  needful  to  keep  in  mind  what  is  the  true 
glory  of  man  :  too  often  we  find  that  the  glory 
of  man  is  made  to  consist  of  that  which  is  not 
his  glory,  but  only  his  good-fortune.  The  wor- 
ship of  man  is  prosperity,  success,  advancement : 
but  these  are  full  often  but  the  accidents  of  life, 
or  we  would  not  so  often  say  that  there  is 
nothing  so  successful  as  success.  Does  it  not 
force  itself  upon  our  attention  as  a  truth,  that 
the  greatness  of  men  does  not  consist  in  their 
position,  or  the  dignities  of  life  conferred  upon 
them  ?  The  man  is  as  truly  great,  or  as  truly 
little,  being  himself  and  none  but  himself, 
whether  the  high  place  or  the  dignified  rank  be 
added  or  not :  these  may  be  gratifying  recog- 
nitions of  power  and  usefulness,  but  they  do  not 
make  him  one  whit  more  truly  great  than  he 
was  before.  The  greatness  must  be  within — 
a  part  of  himself,  which  the  world-powers  can 


LECTURE    IV.  145 


neither  give  nor  take  away.  Is  the  true  glory 
of  man^  then,  in  those  inward  gifts  of  genius  or 
intellectual  power  ?  These  are  helps  to  great- 
ness, but  they  are  not  that  greatness.  These 
cultivated  by  patience  and  conscientious  care 
may  prove  avenues  to  real  greatness,  but  the 
glory  of  man  lies  not  in  these :  it  is  the  char- 
acter which  cultivates  them  which  is  the  true 
self.  Squandered  talents,  revealing  an  ill- 
balanced  character  or  hastily-performed  work, 
betraying  strength  of  egotism  rather  than  con- 
scientious genius,  achieve  no  real  greatness. 
There  is  a  need  of  moral  worth  to  give  weight 
to  ability:  there  is  a  moral  force  requisite  for 
all  the  higher  manifestations  of  greatness. 

This  has  been  recognised  by  many.  '^A 
man's  power  in  England,"  said  an  eminent 
judge,  "will  depend  upon  his  knowledge,  his 
eloquence,  and  his  moral  worth.^'  The  last  is, 
of  course,  the  crown  of  the  whole.  Eloquence 
without  knowledge  is  only  vapid  declamation,  but 
knowledge  and  eloquence  without  moral  worth 
is  but  skilful  rhetoric :  there  is  no  oratory  with- 
out moral  force,  for  there  is  none  without 
earnestness.  It  is  the  character  which  gives  the 
power  to  man.  The  same  has  been  recognised 
in  one  of  the  noblest  anecdotes  of  modern  days. 
When  a  great  Frenchman  lost  all  in  the  days  of 


146  LECTURE   IV. 


political  change,  and  found  himself  obliged  to 
turn  his  back  upon  his  country  and  his  home, 
a  penniless  exile,  one  asked  :  "  What  is  now  left 
you — when  riches^  influence,  and  favour  are  gone 
— what  is  now  left?"  "  Myself,"  was  the  reply. 
It  was  just  so.  When  the  true  self  is  left,  and 
that  self  still  preserves  untainted  its  priceless 
treasure,  the  character,  then  all  remains  that 
need  remain ;  for  then  has  man  that  which 
really  makes  him  man :  his  moral  power  is  left 
to  him,  and  character  which  is  the  true  glory  of 
man.  This  is  it  which  adds  strength  and  con- 
sistent force  to  genius ;  this  is  it  which  sits  as  a 
crown,  richer  than  gold,  upon  a  peasant's  brow ; 
this  is  it  which  has  given  commonplace  ability 
a  rank  above  erratic  or  corrupt  genius.  Do 
you  doubt  it  ?  Ask  the  philosophic  historian  of 
Greece^,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  men  in  Athens 
valued  moral  worth  more  than  talent  among 
their  statesmen;  the  genius  of  Alcibiades  was 
nothing  compared  with  the  simple  integrity  of 
Nikias.  Do  you  doubt  it?  Ask  one  of  the 
healthiest  of  modern  novelists,  and  he  will  tell 
you  that  the  slightest  stain  upon  the  character, 
yes,  even  a  heedless  action,  works  upon  the 
mind   the   painful  feeling   of  self- contempt,  to 

2  Grote. 


LECTURE   IV.  147 


which  no  honeyed  words  or  approving  smile  can 
avail  to  remove.  "Nobody  need  know,"  he 
represents  a  young*  man  saying*  to  a  high- 
spirited  girl  who  has  joined  him  in  a  silly 
escapade.  "Don't  I  know  it  myself,"  is  her 
reply  ^.  This  is  the  sting  within — our  moral 
character  is  wounded  ;  we  know  it  ourselves ; 
our  true  glory  is  impaired.  It  is  in  a  well- 
balanced  character  that  the  true  glory  of  man 
consists ;  for  genius  is  a  gift ;  character  is  self- 
discipline  :  genius  belongs  to  a  man ;  character 
is  the  man  himself:  genius  is  the  colour  of  the 
robe  of  life ;  character  is  its  texture ;  and  the 
fading  of  the  colour  will  not  rob  the  robe  of  its 
use ;  but  when  the  texture  is  frayed  or  worn^ 
the  most  imperial  purple  becomes  a  rag,  and  not 
a  robe.  Character  is  the  glory  of  man,  and  it 
is  to  character-culture  that  Christianity  devotes 
her  aim  ^.     This  is  no  ignoble  aim. 

3  Mr.  W.  Black,  Madcap  Violet. 

*  Compare  Dr.  Henry  Maudsley's  words:  ''The  question 
to  be  entertained  and  decided  at  the  outset  will  be,  whether 
this  aim  (i.e.  a  worthy  aim  in  life)  shall  be  internal  or  ex- 
ternal— whether  the  individual  shall  seek  first  the  completest 
development  of  which  his  nature  is  capable,  other  gains,  such 
as  riches,  reputation,  power,  being  allowed  to  fall  to  him  by 
the  way ;  or  whether  he  shall  seek  worldly  success,  the 
formation  of  character  being  allowed  to  be  a  secondary  and 
incidental  matter  ?  It  is  a  vital  question,  the  practical  answer 
to  which  must  influence  most  materially  the  training  and 
cultivation  of  the  mind." — Responsibility  in  Mental  Disease, 
p.  294. 


148  LECTURE    IV. 


This  character-culture  is  a  noble  aim  ;  but  it 
is  also  most  needful^  and  of  this  needfulness  life 
makes  us  only  too  conscious.  For  what  is  char- 
acter ?  I  answer  it  is  the  product  of  disposition 
into  circumstances.  One  of  the  most  eminent 
sons  of  Ireland  ^  defined  knowledge  as  the  pro- 
duct of  mind  into  nature  :  let  us  define  character 
as  the  product  of  the  will  into  circumstances. 
We  shall  not  have  reason  to  quarrel  with  the 
definition  ;  the  growth  of  self-reflectiveness  will 
show  us  its  truth.  The  actions  of  childhood  are 
actions  of  impulse ;  as  the  whim  or  the  fancy 
sways  him,  so  he  acts.  In  later  life,  prudence 
aims  to  direct  his  acts,  for  he  has  learnt  that 
his  actions  produce  approval  or  disapproval, 
praise  or  blame  from  others;  his  interest  has 
learned  to  reflect  upon  the  influence  of  his 
actions  on  the  minds  of  others;  later,  perhaps 
benevolence  teaches  him  to  reflect  upon  another 
influence,  the  influence  of  his  actions,  not  upon 
the  judgments,  but  upon  the  moral  character  of 
others.  But  besides  these  there  is  another,  the 
influence  of  our  actions  upon  our  own  character. 
There  is  a  reflex  power  in  every  human  act ;  we 
act  upon  circumstances  and  circumstances  act 
upon  us :  and  character  is  thus  gradually  built 

^  Archer  Butler,  Lectures  on  Ancient  Philosophy. 


LECTURE    IV.  149 


up  :  it  is  a  product — the  product  of  our  will  into 
circumstances.  Under  the  influence  of  circum- 
stances characters  change  ^.  This  is  a  trite 
observation,  daily  experience  graves  it  upon  our 
minds.  Time  sours  many  a  disposition ;  the 
bright,  free,  generous  temperament  of  youth 
has  become  the  sad  or  morose  character  of  aire  ; 
or  the  impetuous,  self-asserting  tone  of  young 
life  has  become  the  gentle,  strong,  judicial  firm- 
ness of  age.  And  it  must  be  allowed  that  too 
often  the  power  of  circumstances  is  apparently 
against  the  character.  The  hopefulness  of  rising 
years  is  gone,  the  checks  and  disappointments, 
the  hardships  and  the  disloyalties  of  life,  have 
beaten  down  the  spirit;  time  is  too  much  for 
many,  even  though  the  time  be  but  the  brief 
space  of  threescore  years  and  ten;  ^'it  is  diffi- 
cult," well  has  it  been  said,  "  it  is  difficult  to 
grow  old  gracefully"^."  The  victory  of  circum- 
stances over  the  will  may  be  seen  in  a  debased 
character.     Is  it  then  desirable  that  God  should 


*  "Every  man  is  the  son  of  his  own  deeds." — Spanish 
proverb. 

■^  "  The  ills  which  are  the  inevitable  result  of  failing  strength 
are  but  the  lesser  sorrows  of  age.  Far  bitterer  are  the  dis- 
appointments, the  misconceptions,  the  neglects,  which  age  so 
often  has  to  experience.  How  seldom  is  even  the  most  pros- 
perous life  followed  by  a  pleasant  evening !  And  how  difficult 
is  it — how  far  more  difficult  than  the  young  suppose — to  grow 
old  gracefully." — Luthardt,  iSaving  Truths,  p.  292. 


150  LECTURE   IV. 


alter  circumstances,  seeing  that  they  are  too 
strong"  for  human  character?  That  would  be 
a  method,  perhaps,  of  easing  men,  but  it  would 
not  be  a  method  of  helping  their  character- 
growth.  It  is  not  easy  circumstances  which 
protect  men's  characters  from  deterioration. 
Unfortunately  ease  is  most  deleterious ;  pros- 
perity may  harden  men's  hearts,  luxury  may 
enervate,  comfort  may  deprave.  The  weakness 
lies  within,  the  changing  circumstances  develop, 
they  do  not  cause  or  create  character,  the  fault 
lies  in  ourselves ;  the  will  is  weak,  and  too  often 
fails  to  use  any  modifying  force  upon  surround- 
ing circumstances ;  and  so  it  is  constantly 
reaping  in  itself  the  reward  of  its  weakness  or 
its  folly.  There  is  a  tendency  in  the  laws 
around  us  to  bring  to  light  the  slumbering 
energies  of  the  good  and  evil  seeds  in  human 
character ;  the  influence  is  strong  to  bring  forth 
into  light  the  little  unsuspected  root  of  bitter- 
ness, we  scarcely  note  them  in  early  life,  the 
wilful  ways  of  the  child  are  pretty  and  taking: — 

"  In  love's  spring  all  good  seems  possible  ; 
No  threats,  all  promises,  brooklets  ripple  full 
And  bathe  the  rushes,  vicious  crawliMg  things 
Are  pretty  eggs:  the  sun  shines  graciously 
And  parches  notV 


George  Eliot,  Spanish  Gypsy. 


LECTURE   IV.  151 


But  the  slow  character-forming  years  hatch  the 
beauteous  eggs,  and  bring  forth  the  viper  brood. 
The  little  pleasing  fault  grows  to  an  ugly  heart- 
killing  vice.  There  is  a  fertility  in  the  growth- 
power  of  evil.  Hear  how  St.  Chrysostom  brings 
out  into  terrible  force  the  outgrowth  of  luxurious- 
ness :  "  The  luxurious  soul  is  unable  to  hear  or 
to  see  anything.  It  becomes  weak,  ignoble, 
unmanly,  illiberal,  cowardly,  full  of  impudence, 
servility,  ignorance,  rage,  violence,  and  all  kinds 
of  evil,  and  destitute  of  opposite  virtues.  The 
body  grows  sleek  and  gross,  the  soul  lean  and 
weakly."  So  does  luxuriousness  tend  to  deprave 
the  character,  and  character  is  the  true  nobility 
of  man.  But  hear  another,  a  woman  of  high 
character,  shrewd  insight,  large  and  even  vehe- 
ment sympathies.  She  writes  not  in  the  fourth 
but  in  the  nineteenth  century,  not  for  the  ladies 
of  Constantinople,  but  for  the  ladies  of  England; 
and  she  attacks  the  foolish  fashions,  and  the 
self-constituted  and  would-be  ladylike  invalidism 
which  is  partly  true,  and  partly  imaginary ;  and 
she  shows  with  unsparing  severity  its  fatal 
effects  upon  the  character.  The  mere  indulgence 
of  the  spirit  of  this  agreeable  invalidism  brings 
about  a  degeneracy  of  moral  tone,  a  want  of 
ingenuousness.  "  It  leads  to  self-indulgence, 
and  self-indulgence  to  selfishness,  and  selfishness 


152  LECTURE   IV. 


(invariably)  to  deceit  and  affectation,  till  the 
whole  character  crumbles  to  pieces  with  dry 
rot^/'  So  does  self-indulgence  deprave  the 
character,  and  character,  we  repeat,  is  the  true 
nobility  of  man.  It  is  the  terrible  witness  how 
true  it  is  that  our  actions  are  daily  building  a 
character  and  circumstances  are  building  with  us. 
"  Every  action  becomes  more  certainly  an  eternal 
mother  than  an  eternal  daughter."  Such  is  the 
significant  utterance  of  Jean  Paul  Richter^^. 
It  is  but  saying  that  the  influence  of  an  action 
is  never  limited  to  itself,  for  man  is  the  product 
of  his  will  and  the  circumstances  outside  himself. 
And  the  fixed  type  of  character  towards  which 
we  grow  is  daily  made  more  plain.  The  will, 
indeed,  should  exert  more  modifying  force,  but 
alas !  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  power  of 
some  inner  evil  or  the  simple  love  of  idleness 
and  pleasure  carries  away  the  will,  and  the 
character  is  but  the  full  growth  of  the  long' 
enshrined  seed.  Like  vegetables,  we  passively 
submit  to  the  influences  around ;  we  exert 
neither  will  nor  conscience  to  shape  our  heart- 
growth  ;   the  lines  of  character  constantly  be- 


®  "  Chronic  petite  sant^  leads  to  self-indulgence,"  &c. 
Article  on  "The  little  health  of  Ladies,"  by  Miss  F.  P.  Cobbe, 
Contemporary  Review,  vol.  xxxi.  p.  278. 

^**  Quoted  in  Cook's  Boston  Lectures,  Series  i.  p.  55. 


LECTUEE    IV.  153 


come  clearer,  and    the  looker-on  can  prophesy 
the  final  form  which  it  will  assume. 

"  All  characters 
Must  shrink  or  widen  as  our  wine-skins  do, 
For  more  or  less  that  we  can  pour  in  them 
To  fixed  prediction  ^^" 

The  awful  prediction  is  the  mere  manifestation 
of  the  destiny  which  is  ours,  not  by  reason  of 
any  previous  forecast  or  inevitable  decree,  but 
because  we  have  trifled  with  our  will^  or  left  it 
at  the  mercy  of  passions ;  and  uncontrolled 
passions  are  always  at  the  mercy  of  circum- 
stances^^: we  have  sown — heedlessly  sown — and 
we  have  reaped  the  fruit  of  our  own  actions  in. 
the  features  which  impartial  time  has  stamped 
upon  us ;  we  have  founded  the  type  by  which 
our  own  characters  are  printed  where  all  men 

"  George  Eliot,  Spanish  Gypsy. 

"^  I  again  quote  Dr.  Henry  Maudsley:  "The  matter  is 
worse  when  a  person  has  made  success  in  business  the  one 
aim  of  his  life,  when  he  has  by  long  concentration  of  desire 
and  energy  upon  such  an  aim  so  completely  grown  to  it  as  to 
have  made  it  the  main  part  of  his  inner  life — that  to  which 
all  his  thoughts,  feelings  and  actions  are  directed ;  then  if 
some  error  of  his  own,  or  some  misfortune  beyond  his  control, 
shatters  his  hopes,  destroys  the  pride  of  his  previous  accom- 
plishments, lays  low  the  fabric  which  he  has  been  building 
with  all  the  eagerness  and  energy  of  an  intense  egoism,  he  is 
left  naked  and  defenceless  against  his  afflictions,  sinks  into 
melancholy  and  from  melancholy  into  madness.  To  neglect 
the  continued  culture  and  exercise  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties  is  to  leave  the  mind  at  the  mercy  of  external 
circumstances  :  with  it  as  with  the  body,  to  cease  to  strive  is 
to  begin  to  die." — ResponsihUity  in  Mental  Disease^  p.  296. 

L 


154  LECTURE    IV. 


may  read  them  :  the  secret  things  become  mani- 
fest; our  character  is  a  fact  known  and  read 
of  all  men;  it  is  our  own  child,  and  we  are 
ashamed  of  it.  We  shrink  from  the  exaggerated 
resemblance,  as  a  man  does  from  the  full-grown 
vices  of  the  son  whom  he  has  trained  in  the 
way  of  wrong-doing.  We  have  depraved  our 
character  by  weakness,  by  waywardness,  by  sin  ; 
and  character  is  the  true  nobility  of  man.  It  is 
here,  then,  that  the  need  of  help  is  to  be  seen. 
Circumstances  cannot  do  more  than  co-operate 
with  will :  they  cannot  create  what  does  not 
exist :  they  are  powerful  to  aid  the  growth  of 
good,  as  well  as  the  growth  of  evil.  It  is  within, 
that  the  help  must  be  given  :  it  is  within,  that 
the  change  must  be  :  our  will,  our  disposition 
is  the  force  that  needs  aid  and  purification.  If 
only  we  had  the  ally  within^  the  law  outside 
would  be  our  ally  too.  It  is  the  weak  element 
within,  which  weakens  the  result.  To  give 
elevation  to  character  we  need  therefore  some 
assistant  force  within.  It  will  not  do  to  alter 
the  outward  forces ;  it  is  needful  rather  to  re- 
generate the  inner,  that  that  which  is  without 
may  be  clean  also. 

This  aid  Christianity  supplies.  Its  aim  is  to 
assist  in  this  character-growth.  Its  aim  is  the 
bestowal  of  an  assisting  and  co-operating  spirit. 


LECTURE    IV.  155 


^' Take  heed  unto  thyself"  is  the  lang-uage  of 
the  Apostle  ;  let  your  aims  be  ever  self-culture. 
Remember  the  outward  influences^  but  remember 
the  inward  power  which   can  change  them  to 
good  or  evil.     To  meet  this,  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
bestowed,  that  the  law  of  good  may  be  the  law 
of  life ;   the  law  is  written  in  the  heart ;  God 
works  with  us  to  will  and  to  do ;  and  thus  is 
there    created    a    grace-formed    individualism 
within  man.    He  becomes  gifted  with  an  energy 
to  transform  the  hard  clay  of  life,  and  he  is  thus 
made  spiritually  the  possessor  of  power  like  to 
that  dreamed-of  stone  at  whose  touch  all  thing's 
become  gold.     Christianity  promises  the  Divine 
Spirit  which  so  gives  compactness  and  purpose 
to  man^s  will  that  all  circumstances  are  ministers 
of  stronger  and   nobler  character-growth.     All 
things  work  together  for  good.     Thus  the  im- 
possible, as  our  fainting  hearts  and  bafiled  wills 
have  called  it,  becomes  possible ;  and  the  way 
to  the  truest  and  highest  greatness  is  laid  open 
to  the  weakest.    All  cannot  be  famous  in  earthly 
story;    all  cannot  acquire  earthly  wealth;    all 
cannot  climb  into  the  glittering  uplands  of  life; 
but  there  is  a  glory  which  all  may  reach^  the 
glory  of  the  full  growth  of  a  God-like  character 
— -a  glory  better  and  more  truly  honourable  than 
the  glory  of  name  or  fame.     To  reach  this  full 

L  2 


156  LECTUEE    IV. 


and  true  flower  of  life,  to  achieve  this  the  real 
end  of  our  being,  to  ripen  slowly  through 
changing  years,  renewed  to  the  image  of  Him 
who  created  us,  is  the  Christian's  aim  ;  and  who 
will  say  that  it  is  needless  or  ignoble  ;  that  this 
is  not  the  truest  kingship,  the  kingship  over 
ourselves ;  and  that  this  is  not  the  divinest 
kingdom,  the  kingdom  of  God  which  is  within  ? 

II.  Neither  is  the  hope  selfish  as  regards 
others. 

It  is  said  that  the  Christian  hope  so  concen- 
trates men's  attention  upon  the  saving  of  their 
souls  and  the  fitting  themselves  to  live  in  another 
world  that  they  are  often  unfit  or  heedless  how 
to  live  in  the  present.  Christianity,  it  is  de- 
clared, teaches  men  how  to  die ;  it  is  time  she 
took  to  teaching  them  how  to  live.  She  teaches 
men  that  they  are  strangers  and  pilgrims,  that 
this  world  is  not  their  home,  that  it  is  polluted, 
that  their  true  rest  and  true  home  lies  beyond, 
and  that  therefore  she  unfits  men  for  the 
simple  duties  of  citizens  and  friends ;  that  in 
making  them  better  Christians  she  makes  them 
less  useful  men.  But  this  accusation  mis- 
conceives the  meaning  of  Christian  precepts, 
ignores  the  pervading  motive  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  shuts  out  from  view  the  quickening 
power  of  the  eternal  hope. 


LECTURE    IV.  157 


(i.)  It  misconceives  the  meaning  of  Christian 
precepts.  It  is  true  that  we  are  taught  to  love 
not  the  world,  to  regard  the  present  life  as  a 
pilgrimage,  but  it  is  not  true  that  we  are  taught 
to  ignore  either  the  natural  enjoyment  or  the 
obvious  duties  of  the  present.  We  are  told  to 
take  a  true  estimate  of  life,  and  to  administer  it 
after  some  settled  system,  to  have  some  aim  and 
worthy  purpose  in  it.  To  love  the  world  is  to 
take  its  passing  joys  and  pleasures  as  the  ter- 
minus of  our  efforts  and  the  culmination  of  our 
activities ;  it  is  to  rest  in  these  instead  of  subor- 
dinating all  life  to  its  fit  and  true  end.  Life  is 
something  which  is  worthy  a  wise  aim^  and  its 
circumstances  should  be  laid  under  contribution 
to  help  forward  that  aim.  To  live  in  mere 
enjoyment  is  to  act  like  children  who  are  pleased 
with  coloured  threads  but  never  try  to  weave 
them  to  any  pattern^  or  who  seize  the  brush  of 
the  painter  and  dash  the  paint  recklessly  and 
aimlessly  on  the  canvas ;  to  live  as  God  and 
Christianity^  as  reason  and  right  would  have  us 
live,  is  to  take  the  colours  and  lay  them  on  the 
canvas  in  obedience  to  some  high  motive  and  in 
harmony  with  some  noble  design,  and  thus  to 
subordinate  all  things  to  a  great  and  well- 
wrought  purpose  :  and  if  this  purpose  be  char- 
acter-culture and  self-reformation_,  then  surelv  it 


158  LECTURE   IV. 


is  no  ignoble  or  selfish  one;  it  is  not  a  purpose 
useless  to  mankind  at  large,  but  rather  of  the 
very  highest  use.  The  truest  philanthropy  is 
self-reformation.  The  weariness  of  the  world  is 
much  made  up  of  the  multitude  of  preachers 
and  the  fewness  of  well-doers.  AVell  has  a 
modern  man  of  science  reflected  on  the  few  men 
who  definitely  set  self-culture  before  them  as  an 
aim  in  life  ^^.  Well  did  Lavater  exclaim,  *^'  The 
man  who  reforms  himself  has  done  more 
towards  reforming  the  public  than  a  dozen 
noisy  patriots."  The  aim  of  self-culture  and  the 
building  up  of  character  by  divine  help  to  the 
true  Godlike  type  is  a  noble  one,  and  is  fraught 
with  the  highest  and  most  practical  benefits  to 
the  public.  Such  a  character  will  not  be  pos- 
sessed by  the  feverish  haste  to  be  rich  which  is 
the  source  of  commercial  dishonesty  and  disaster. 
Such  a  character  will  not  be  betrayed  into 
foolish  and  vain,  ostentations  of  unreal  wealth 
which  is  the  bane  of  so  many  circles  of  so-called 
good  society.  Such  a  character  will  not  be  full 
of  vicious  ambitions,  or  the  restlessness  which 
is  born  of  conceited  merit.  The  quietude  and 
discipline  of  character  is  the  elevation  of  self 

^'  Dr.  Henry  Maudsley  thus  writes  :  "  There  is  hardly 
any  one  who  sets  self-development  before  himself  as  an  aim 
of  life." — Ee-^2'^nsibilUy  in  Mental  Disease,  p.  290. 


LECTURE    IV.  159 


and  the  guarantee  of  the  peace   and  order  of 
society. 

(ii.)  But  the  fear  that  Christian  hope  leads 
to  selfishness,  practically  ignores  the  whole 
pervading  spirit  of  Christianity.  The  spirit 
which  looks  to  God,  and  which  impelled  by  love 
to  Him  seeks  to  be  like  Him,  is  not  a  refined 
and  elevated  pleasure  which  diverts  our  love 
from  mankind,,  it  is  rather  a  spirit  which  draws 
from  a  deep  and  unfailing  spring  the  fresh 
streams  of  noble  impulses.  Love  to  man  is  not 
a  precept  added  by  Christ  to  balance  the  love 
to  God  in  the  fear  of  an  undue  preponderance 
of  one  command  over  the  other.  It  is  a  natural 
corollary.  The  second  command  is  like  unto 
the  first,  because  the  features  of  the  first  are 
reflected  in  it,  as  in  its  offspring.  So  much 
was  this  felt  by  the  sacred  writers  that  St.  John 
deems  that  love  to  God  is  impossible  where 
there  is  no  love  to  man.  "  He  that  loveth  not 
his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he 
love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ^^  ?"  ''  Whoso 
seeth  his  brother  have  need  and  shutteth  up 
his  compassion  from  him,  how  dwelleth  (not 
the  love  of  man,  but)  the  love  of  God  in  him  ^^  ?'' 
The  love  of  man  is  the  natural  outcome  of  love 
to  God.  Mankind  is  transfigured  in  the  eyes 
"  I  John  iv.  20.  ^  I  John  iii.  17. 


160  LECTURE   IV. 


of  the  man  in  whom  the  love  of  God  dwells. 
A  growing"  civilisation  and  a  more  philosophic 
view  of  life  might  show  us  the  grand  solidarity 
of  the  world,  and  teach  us  that  he  who  lives  by 
others  should  live  for  others.  But  it  has  been 
well  said^^  that  the  thought  has  tenfold  force 
with  the  Christian  :  to  him  humanity  is  not  a 
mere  aggregation  of  mutual  interests  or  even 
mutual  sympathies :  it  is  a  divinely  formed 
family :  no  one  member  of  it  is  to  be  despised  : 
the  same  Father  made  all :  the  same  Father 
loves  all :  the  same  Saviour  redeemed  all.  The 
lingering  touch  of  God's  hand  is  upon  all  hu- 
manity: in  the  view  of  Him  who  is  their  Father 
all  meaner  distinctions  die :  there  is  neither 
Jew  nor  Greek,  barbarian,  bond  or  free  :  all  are 
one  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  is  here  where  God 
made  manifest  His  true  Fatherhood  that  the 
true  Altruism  bears  its  fruit.  We  do  not  under- 
value the  Altruism  of  to-day:  it  is  a  noble 
thought ;  it  may  bear  fruit ;  but  while  we  ad- 
mire the  grandeur  of  the  conception,  we  cannot 
help  thinking  that  it  is  a  conception  borrowed 
from  Christianity^"^;  and  when  we  hear  it  stated 


^^  Prof.  Westcott,  The  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection,  Appendix 
on  Positivism. 

"  "Our  present  school  of  moralists  are  men  who  would 
Btill  retain  the  moral  passion,  but  at  the  same  time  they  deny 


LECTURE    IV.  161 


without  reference  to  Him  who  made  of  one 
blood  all  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earthy 
we  fear  that  it  must  lack  the  vital  force  which 
comes  from  Him  alone.  We  admire  the  beauty 
of  the  flower,  but  we  think  it  has  been  plucked 
from  the  garden  of  Christ,  and  that  he  who 
plucked  it  has  left  the  root  behind ;  we  know 
at  least  that  those  who  have  loved  God  most 
have  loved  man  most.  He  who  loves  the  author 
most  will  value  most  the  autograph  ;  and  the 
Christian  sees  in  every  man  the  autograph  of 
God ;  and  just  as  the  meanest  things  are  cher- 
ished by  us  and  folded  by  in  safe  spots  because 
they  are  hallowed  to  us  by  the  memory  and  love 
of  those  who  are  gone,  so  however  contradictory, 

the  existence  of  its  only  possible  object,  and  set  up  others 
that  are  utterly  inadequate  either  to  excite  or  appease  it. 
Such  is  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity  which  is  now  offered  as 
an  explanation  of  it.  This  is  really  nothing  but  the  desire 
of  God,  which  will  not  confess  itself,  George  Eliot's  books, 
to  turn  to  a  striking  instance,  are  really  instinct  with  a  latent 
Theism,  with  an  unackn(jwledged  religious  dogmatism  of  the 
most  absolute  and  severest  kind.  George  Eliot  is  really,  as 
Spinoza  was,  a  pei-son  intoxicated  with  God.  Mr.  Frederick 
Harrison  is  another  case  in  point.  He  too,  like  George 
Eliot,  is  a  suppressed  theist.  He  is  full  of  a  longing  for  God 
that  declines  to  own  itself,  and  when  he  tells  us  that  all  his 
fine  feelings  are  due  to  the  teaching  of  Positivism,  the  best 
reply  we  can  make  to  him  is  in  the  lines  of  Byron,  with  tlie 
alteration  of  a  single  word  :  — 

If  you  think  philosophy   'twas  this  did, 
I  can't  help  thinking  'Theism  assisted." 
Article   by  Mallock  in  Nineteenth   Century,  Jan.    1878,  p. 
166, 


162  LECTURE    IV. 


foolish,  feeble,  and  degraded  men  may  be,  yet 
do  they  become  dear  to  us,  because  dear  to  Him 
who  loved  them.  "  He  that  loveth  Him  that 
begat,  loves  Him  also  that  is  begotten  of  Him^^." 
All  the  most  worthless  and  base  are  now  kin  to 
the  Christian,  because  all  are  now  dignified  with 
the  love  of  the  unchanging  God  :  we  know  that 
they  must  be  precious  because  He  so  vabied 
them  :  we  know  that  they  are  not  and  cannot 
be  vile  :  we  dare  not  do  aught  to  weaken  or 
degrade  any  for  whom  Christ  died  ^^. 

(iii.)  And  the  light  which  shines  for  the  future 
gives  new  power  to  this  thought.  Man  seen  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  clouded  and  fleeting  pre- 
sent looks  meagre  and  contemptible ;  but  those 
who  take  lofty  views  of  man^s  future  see  in  him 
a  dignity  which  is  unseen  by  others.  The  bright 
light  of  eternal  hope  sheds  a  glory  on  all  man- 
kind. It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  think  that  the 
sense  of  a  life  to  come  makes  this  life  look 
short  and  mean.  Men  speak  as  if  the  idea  of 
an  eternal  life  has  made  this  life  of  threescore 
and  ten  years  seem  insignificant.  They  think 
that  the  untold  splendours  of  the  future  cast 
into  dimness  the  glories  and  kill  out  the  in- 
terests of  the  present,  just  as  the  first  shilling'of 

^^  I  John  V.  I. 

^^  Kom.  xiv.  15,  20;  I  Gor.  viii.  ii. 


LECTURE    IV.  163 


the  child  is  nothing  in  the  eyes  of  the  millionaire. 
The  comparison  is  unjust.  Heaven  is  not  as  a 
vast  fortune,  and  earth  but  a  poor  inheritance. 
The  comparison  would  still  be  inaccurate  but 
more  near  the  truth  were  the  shilling  the  first 
invested  sum  out  of  which  the  millionaire's  for- 
tune grew.  Let  that  be  the  comparison  and 
then  we  read  in  the  single  coin  the  promise  of 
the  stupendous  wealth  to  follow.  The  life  to 
come  gives  its  significance  to  the  life  now  pre- 
sent. It  is  the  grand  possibility  which  dignifies 
present  labour.  The  work  of  the  teacher  draws 
its  greatness  not  from  the  things  taught,  but 
from  the  serious  and  real  life  for  which  he  is. 
fitting  his  pupils  :  the  life  of  manhood  stands 
looking  in  at  the  door  of  the  school-room  ;  the 
spelling-book  and  the  dull  wearisome  iterations 
of  school  routine  catch  a  new  dignity  from  the 
coming  life  ;  without  it  they  would  be  meaning- 
less, perhaps  mischievous.  So  it  is  that  man's 
life,  short  and  painful  as  it  is,  gains  new  signi- 
ficance from  the  future  life  and  the  immortality 
to  come.  He  who  sees  in  man  the  noble  pro- 
mise of  that  future  finds  him  invested  with  new 
worth  :  while  ^'  he  who  thinks  meanly  of  man's 
destiny  will  think  meanly  of  man."  He  who 
catches  if  it  be  but  a  glimpse  of  the  love  of 
God,  and  of  a  life  to  come,  begins  to  comprehend 


164  LECTURE    IV. 


the  grand  future  which  remains.  It  is  love 
only  which  can  learn  to  comprehend  the  length, 
breadth,  and  depth  and  height  of  God's  purposes 
of  love.  She  can  see  in  the  unshapely  masses 
of  ruined  life  around  her  the  lineaments  of  a 
"transformed  character,  as  the  sculptor  may  read 
in  the  unhewn  block  of  marble  the  swelling 
beauty  and  fair  proportions  of  the  statue  yet 
to  be. 

Yes,  the  future  which  is  of  God_,  the  hope 
which  is  of  God,  like  the  love  which  is  of  God, 
adds  glorious  meaning  to  human  life.  Love  to 
man  is  on  the  obverse  of  the  medal  which  wears 
the  impress  of  the  love  of  God  on  the  reverse. 
Hope  for  man  is  the  answering  legend  to  the 
cry  of  the  Psalmist,  "  My  hope  is  in  Thee,  O 
God."  Lovers  of  God  have  been  lovers  of  men, 
hopeful  for  men  and  toiling  for  men ;  the  labour 
of  love  and  the  patience  of  hope  have  sprung  up 
in  the  hearts  of  those  who  learned  that  God  was 
love.  It  is  not  true  that  Christian  hope  and 
Christian  love  make  men  despise  the  present 
or  disregard  the  duties  of  this  life.  True  there 
have  been  erratic  Christians  who  have  lost  their 
power  of  sympathy  with  the  struggles  of  men 
by  withdrawing  from  the  arena  of  conflict ;  but 
the  ascetic,  the  mystic,  the  puritan  have  all  in 
their  turn  been  men  of  half-truths.    The  healthful 


LECTURE    IV.  16^ 


spirit  of  the  Christian  Church  has,  however,  as- 
serted itself  elsewhere.  Philanthropies  have  been 
the  work  of  Christians.  The  pagan  world  could 
enjoy  barbarities  for  amusement's  sake,  and  let 
men  be  tortured  for  a  Roman  holiday.  It  was 
a  Christian  who  broke  the  yoke  of  that  tyran- 
nous pleasure.  Christian  love  and  Christian  hope 
joined  hands  and,  foremost  in  the  noble  race  of 
benevolence,  laboured  to  raise  the  fallen  and 
console  the  weary.  "  There  is  not  a  secular  re- 
form," says  a  wise  and  thoughtful  writer,,  "in 
the  whole  development  of  modern  civilisation 
which  (if  it  is  more  than  mechanical)  has  not 
drawn  its  inspiration  from  a  religious  principle. 
Infirmaries  for  the  body  have  sprung  out  of  duty 
to  the  soul ;  schools  for  the  letter^  that  free  way 
may  be  opened  for  the  spirit ;  sanitary  laws,  that 
the  diviner  elements  in  human  nature  may  not 
become  incredible  and  hopeless  from  their  foul 
environment.  Who  would  ever  lift  a  voice  for 
the  slave  that  looked  no  further  than  his  face  ? 
or  build  a  reformatory  for  the  culprit  child,  if 
he  saw  nthing  but  the  slouching  gait  and  the 
thievish  eye  ^^  ? "  But  because  they  have  seen 
more — seen  the  glitter  of  heaven  and  its  true 
mint-mark   beneath  the    dust    and    rubbish    of 


2*  Martineau,  Hours  of  ThougJit,  pp.  i8] 


166  LECTUEE    IV. 


many  a  sin  and  many  a  crime — Christians  have 
been  forward  in  this  work.  Raikes  in  Gloucester, 
Howard  among  the  lazar-houses  and  prisons  of 
Europe,  Clarkson  and  Wilberforce  preaching  for 
the  slaves  against  selfish  interests  and  heartless 
expediency, — let  these  stand  for  thousands  more 
who  are  proofs  that  eternal  hopes  do  not  make 
Christians  unmindful  of  the  present  world  and 
its  needs  ;  but  that  the  servants  of  Christ  love 
with  a  love  which  has  caught  the  reflection  of 
their  Master's ;  yea^  precisely,  because  they  love 
God  they  have  learned  to  love  their  neighbours 
with  a  love  stronger  than  before. 

III.  The  hope  in  the  future  is  not  a  base  one. 
Yet  this  is  what  it  is  accused  of  being. 
Christians,  it  is  said,  only  live  a  life  of  self- 
denial  here  in  the  hope  of  having  free  scope  for 
self-indulgence  hereafter.  Their  lives  are  but 
the  climax  of  prudential  epicureanism.  They 
deny  themselves  to-day  in  order  to  enjoy  more 
thoroughly  the  good  tilings  of  to-morrow.  They 
do  not  live  as  men  here,  in  order  that  they  may 
live  as  luxurious  men  in  a  paradise  where  the 
joys  will  be  precisely  of  the  same  kind,  only  far 
better  than  those  which  they  have  seemingly 
eschewed  here.  It  is  a  hope  of  enjoying  palatial 
splendours  in  another  world  which  will  last 
always  instead  of  the  limited  chance  and  un- 


LECTURE    IV.  167 


certain  tenure  of  similar  splendours  on    earth. 
Sucli  is  the  accusation. 

It  is  perfectly  true  that  uneducated  Christians, 
in  their  feeble  attempts  to  explain  their  thoughts 
of  that  home  to  which  their  hearts  look  forward^ 
have  used  language  which  savours  somewhat  of 
a  carnal  paradise  ;  but  the  thoughts  of  their 
hearts  have  infinitely  transcended  the  words  of 
their  lips.  It  does  not  always  follow  that  be- 
cause a  man's  speech  is  vulgar,  his  thoughts  and 
aspirations  are  base.  The  mind  is  often  haunted 
by  images  and  hopes  which  it  can  express  only 
in  wholly  inadequate  language  or  not  at  all. 
The  true  Christian,  however  feebly  he  may  ex- 
press his  hopes,  has  hopes  which  are  far  nobler 
and  purer  than  words  can  utter ;  and  the  very 
slightest  attention  would  detect  that  he  w^as 
speaking  in  metaphors,  which  could  but  im- 
perfectly shadow  forth  his  meaning.  The  re2)re- 
sentation  of  the  hopes  of  heaven  as  merely 
intensified  earthly  enjoyments  is  a  mistake 
which  is  based  on  a  total  misconception  of  the 
meaning  of  Christianity.  There  are  hopes 
which  the  Christian  entertains  which  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  avow.  He  does  look  forward  to  the 
vision  of  God :  he  does  look  forward  to  the 
society  of  the  good  and  the  great :  he  does  look 
forward    to  the   restoration  of  lost  friendships 


168  LECTURE   IV. 


and  too-early  severed  loves.  If  men  call  these 
base  hopes,  it  can  only  be  because  they  have  no 
delight  in  the  society  of  the  good  and  great, 
and  no  joy  in  sweet  human  friendship.  That 
which  is  noble  and  soul-inspiring  here  will  not 
be  reckoned  ignoble  there.  To  grasp  the  hand 
of  love,  to  feel  the  thrill  of  that  sweetest  of 
human  pleasures,  the  joy  of  a  love  renewed, 
is  no  mean  or  despicable  hope.  If  it  is  so,  then 
are  all  glad  companionships  and  intense  affec- 
tions here  to  be  Teckoned  base ;  and  home  and 
friendships  are  but  tokens  of  weakness  or  of 
selfishness.  These  we  look  for;  but  the  Chris- 
tian's hope  is  to  be  found  in  more  than  these 
glad  prospects ;  it  is  to  be  found  in  that  holiness 
without  which  no  one  shall  see  God,  in  that 
character  which  has  been  slowly  formed  here, 
but  which  will  be  possessed  in  its  fulness  and 
beauty  hereafter.  The  carnal  or  the  worldly 
paradise  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Bible.  True 
there  is  the  imagery  of  the  Apocalypse  which 
has  been  quoted  as  a  sanction  to  such  expecta- 
tions ;  but  the  symbols,  simple  in  themselves, 
reveal  their  meaning  in  the  light  of  the  real  and 
acknowledged  spiritual  hopes  of  the  Christian. 
The  hope  is  to  see  God  as  He  is  and  to  be  like 
Him"^i  ;  to  grow  up  unto  Him  in  all  things-^. 

^^  Jobn  iii.  2.       ^^  Ephesians  iv.  15;  Philippians  iii.  8-12. 


LECTURE    IV.  169 


The  Apocalypse  says  no  other — the  happiness 
it  holds  forth  is  the  happiness  of  hoh'ness :  it  is 
a  consummation  of  that  which  we  have  lonijed 
for :  the  character,  the  hkeness  to  God  will  be 
ours :  His  name  will  be  on  our  foreheads  -". 
There  may  be  physical  emblems  used.  There  is 
a  river,  but  it  is  for  those  who  have  thirsted  for 
righteousness^*:  there  are  fruits,  but  they  are 
for  those  who  have  longed  after  knowledge  ^^: 
there  is  a  city  whose  walls  are  gemmed  with 
various  jewels-*^;  and  the  names  of  Patriarchs 
and  Apostles  are  written  there  2^;  but  it  is  to 
tell  us  that  all  the  types  of  human  character, 
the  weak  but  brilliant  Reubens  of  life,  the 
courageous  but  not  unblemished  Judahs,  the 
pure,  quiet,  and  persistent  Josephs  will  be  there  : 
it  is  no  place  where  pale  counterparts  of  one 
another  will  endure  the  dull  monotony  of  each 
other's  society;  but  it  is  a  spot  where  the  valour 
of  the  soldier,  the  fidelity  of  the  man  of  business, 
the  achievements  of  impetuous  love  will  be  wel- 
comed, and  where  all  the  Divine  powers  of  holy 
men  will  blend  in  sweet  and  various  harmony 
in  that  city  which  lieth  four  square,  and  whose 

^  Rev.  xxii.  4.     Cf.  Hebrews  xii.  14. 

2*  Rev.  xxii.  2  ;  Matt.  v.  6  ;  Ps.  xxxvi.  8,  9. 

2'  Rev.  xxii.  2  ;  Prov.  iii.  18. 

2^  Rev.  xxi.  19. 

"  Rev.  xxi.  12,  14  ;  comp.  Rev.  vii.  4-9. 

M 


170  LECTUEE   IV. 


gates  face  to  every  point  of  the  compass,  and  are 
open  to  every  son  of  man^^.  There  no  labour 
will  be  lost,  no  intellectual  achievement  will  be 
found  valueless  :  the  sage  wall  find  new  avenues 
of  investigation  open  where  there  are  new 
heavens  and  new  earth  :  new  fields  of  labour  and 
new  visions  of  hope  will  exj^and  before  us  there, 
and  everywhere  the  atmosphere  will  be  that  of 
righteousness  and  rest.  This  is  no  base  and 
unworthy  hope^  which  speaks  no  words  of  carnal 
delight,  but  promises  only  that  the  strivings 
after  the  true  character  of  the  Master  will  re- 
ceive their  satisfaction  there.  Thus  the  hope  of 
the  Christian  lies  in  holiness,  in  likeness  to 
God,  in  the  shaking  off  of  the  defilements  of  our 
nature,  and  the  rectification  of  the  aw^kwardness 
and  baseness  of  our  character.  "  Heaven  is 
principle,"  said  Confucius;  "Heaven  is  char- 
acter/'' said  a  large-hearted  Scotch  divine  ^^ ; 
"  Heaven  is  likeness  to  God/^  says  every 
Christian  that  ever  breathed.  It  is  no  gross 
or  carnal  pleasure  which  lies  before  us.  It 
is  the  realisation  of  ideals :  it  is  the  employ- 
ment of  powers  apparently  wasted  for  want 
of  field-room  in   this  life,  the    opening  of  the 

2^  Rev.  xxi.  12-16,  25. 

'^^  Chalmers,  in  his  sermon,  "Heaven  a  character,  not  a 
locality." 


LECTURE    IV.  171 


prospect  of  new  spheres  in  which  the  energies 
which  have  found  no  scope  here  may  find 
opportunity.  For  there  is  nothing  which  is 
so  full  of  sadness  as  the  spectacle,  which  is  so 
often  seen,  of  lives  cut  short  when  in  the  full 
force  of  true  usefulness,  and  when  their  powers 
of  sympathy  and  love  seemed  most  needful  to 
those  around.  It  was  said  by  one  ^''^  who  will 
not  be  thought  to  be  a  partial  witness,,  that  the 
thought  of  a  life  to  come  has  no  trifling  in- 
fluence for  good  in  allaying  the  pain  we  feel  at 
the  irony  of  nature  in  snatching  away  fair  and 
good  lives  from  the  world  when  they  seemed 
on  the  road  to  higher  usefulness.  Such  a 
thought  receives  an  emphasis  in  our  minds  to- 
day 2^.     Yes,  it  is  well  spoken — the  hope  does 

2^  "  The  beneficial  effect  of  such  a  hope  is  far  from  trifling. 
It  makes  life  and  human  nature  a  far  greater  thing  to  the 
feelings,  and  gives  greater  strength  as  well  as  greater 
solemnity  to  all  the  sentiments  which  are  awakened  in  us  by 
our  fellow-creatures  or  Ijy  mankind  at  large.  It  allays  the 
sense  of  that  irony  of  natui'e  which  is  so  painfully  felt  when 
we  see  the  exertions  and  sacrifices  of  a  Kfe  culminating  in  the 
formation  of  a  wise  and  noble  mind,  only  to  disappear  from 
the  world  when  the  time  has  just  anived  at  which  the  world 
seems  about  to  begin  reaping  the  benefit  of  it.  The  truth 
that  life  is  short  and  art  is  long  is  fi-om  of  old  one  of  the 
most  discouraging  parts  of  our  condition ;  this  hope  admits 
the  possibility  that  the  art  employed  in  improving  and 
beautifying  the  soul  itself  may  avail  for  good  in  some  other 
life,  even  when  seemingly  useless  for  this." — J,  S.  Mill,  Essay 
on  Relifjion,  p.  249. 

^^  Dec.  15,  1878,  the  Sunday  after  the  death  of  tlie' 
Princess  Alice. 

1\I  2 


172  LECTUllE    IV. 


allay  the  pain  we  feel  at  the  irony  of  nature, 
when  we  see  bright  and  useful  lives  cut  short 
in  the  maturity  of  their  usefulness,  when  we 
behold  one  in  the  noon  of  her  life,  endeared  by 
her  wise  benevolence  and  her  sweet  womanly 
sympathy  to  the  home  of  her  adoption,,  and  no 
less  endeared  by  tender  and  touching  memories 
of  self-sacrificing  filial  love  to  the  home  of  her 
birth — a  nurse  among  princes,  a  princess  among- 
nurses^  tender  and  heroic  in  her  family,  a  mother 
among  her  people,  whose  mission  was  by  the 
sick  bed — falling  a  victim^  on  a  day  of  dark 
remembrance,  to  the  sickness  from  which  her 
patient  skill  and  loving  hand  had  so  often 
shielded  others ;  it  does  let  in  one  ray  of  light 
to  feel  that  the  subtle  tact  and  right  royal  love, 
yea,  all  her  powers  of  heart  and  tender  life, 
seemingly  robbed  of  their  full  Iruit  by  being 
removed  too  soon,  may  find  scope  and  occupation 
in  a  brighter  and  a  larger  sphere. 

The  instinct  which  feels  thus  our  Master 
acknowledges,  for  He  holds  out  the  promise  of 
hope — a  hope  which  has  been  denounced  as 
ignoble  and  selfish  and  prudential,  but  which, 
on  the  contrary,  I  have  wished  to  show  is  noble 
and  elevating  in  regard  to  man,  allaying  his 
natural  anxieties  and  adequate  to  his  legitimate 
expectations. 


LECTUKE    IV.  173 


And  now  one  word  and  I  have  done.  We 
have  seen  the  spread  of  tlie  Christian  faith,  its 
wondrous  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  every  raee 
and  climate,  language  and  nation  ;  we  have  seen 
man  in  his  weakness,  in  his  affection,  and  in  his 
hope  ;  and  we  have  seen  the  fitness  of  Cinis- 
tianity  to  minister  to  his  feebleness,  his  love,  and 
his  aspirations.  We  have  seen  that  the  gospel 
is  not  to  be  understood  without  remembering 
the  nature  of  man.  These  two,  man  and  Christ's 
teachings,  have  a  mutual  inter-adaptation.  They 
fit  as  lock  and  key ;  and  the  one  is  scarcely  to 
be  understood,  and  certainly  cannot  be  fairly 
criticised,  without  reference  to  the  other ;  for  it 
isj  to  man  as  he  is  that  Christ  came.  We  have 
seen  man  the  victim  of  a  moral  disease,  and 
Christ  the  healer  reaching  forth  His  hand  of 
love,  saying,  ''  I  will,  be  thou  clean."  We  have 
seen  man  with  love  in  his  nature,  trying  to  find 
the  truest  and  most  abiding  object  of  affection, 
finding  in  Christ  one  who  can  fill  him  with 
impassioned  love.  We  have  seen  man  with 
hopes,  man  with  fitful  longings  to  rise  higher 
and  be  better  than  he  is,  and  Christ  standing 
by  and  putting  into  his  hand  the  crown  of 
saintliness ;  and  in  all  this  we  have  seen  that 
it  is  not  in  outward  show  or  pomp  of  circum- 
stance that  the  Kingdom  of  God  comes;    but 


174  LECTURE    IV. 


that  evermore  it  must  be  within — within,  for 
within  is  the  moral  evil;  within^  for  within  is 
the  power  of  love ;  within,  for  within  is  the 
will  and  the  hope  which  must  reach  forth  to  the 
higher  ideal  of  character.  Thus  once  more  the 
Kingdom  of  God  must  be  within.  It  will 
indeed  be  seen  around,  outside,  everywhere, 
broadening  on  our  view  in  its  ever-enlarging 
borders  and  its  ever- varying  beauties,  but  still 
the  flowers  of  God's  realm  must  ever  blossom 
forth  from  a  hidden  seed,  for  the  kingship  Christ 
desires  is  the  kingship  within.  Evermore  He 
seeks  to  set  up  His  Throne  in  the  wills  and 
affections  of  men,  and  though  all  power  is  given 
Him  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  and  He  is  seated 
at  God's  right  hand,  far  above  all  principality 
and  power  and  might  and  dominion  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  and  the  angels  of  God 
worship  Him,  yet  does  He  prefer  before  all 
temples  the  temple  of  the  heart,  and  before  all 
the  thrones  the  throne  of  the  kingdom  which  is 
within. 

THE    END. 


CLARENDON  PRESS,  OXFORD. 

FOR  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  PROMOTING  CHRISTIAN  KNOWLEDGE. 


3miri  M  Iromating  6\ixhlm  Inotoleigt 


^ublitations'  on 
THE  CHEISTIAN  EVIDENCES. 


BOOKS.  Price. 

Theism  or  Agnosticism. 

An  Essay  on  the  grounds  of  Belief  in  God.  By  the  Rev. 
Brownlow  Maitland,  M.A.,  author  of  "  The  Argument  from 
Prophecy,"  &c.     Post  8vo Clothhoards    1     6 

Argument  from  Prophecy  {The). 

By  the  Rev.  Brownlow  Maitland,  M.A.,  Author  of  "  Scepti- 
cism and  Faith,"  &c.     Post  8vo Clothhoards    1     6 

Scepticism  and  Faith. 

By  the  Rev.  Brownlow  Maitland.    Post  8vo.     Cloih  boards    1     ^ 

Modern  Unbelief:  its  Principles  and  Charac- 

TERisTics.   By  the  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Gloucester 

and  Bristol.    Post  8vo Cloth  boards    1     6 

Some  Modern  Religious  Difficulties. 

Six  Sermons  preached,  by  the  request  of  the  Christian 
Evidence  Society,  at  St.  James's,  Piocndilly,  on  Sunday 
Afternoons  after  Easter,  1876  ;  with  a  Preface  by  his  Grace 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.     Post  Svo Cloth  boards    1      0 

Some  Witnesses  for  the  Faith. 

Six  Sermons  preached,  by  the  rec^uest  of  the  Christian 
Evidence  Society,  at  St.  Stephen's  Church,  South  Kensing- 
ton, on  Sunday  Afternoons  after  Easter,  1877.      Post  8vo. 

Clothhoards    1     4 

Theism  and  Christianity. 

Six  Sermons  preacheil,  by  the  request  of  the  Christian 
Evidence  Society,  at  St.   James's,   Piccadilly,  on  Sunday 

Afternoons  after  Easter,  1878.     Post  Svo Clothhoards    1     6 

24-1-80.]  [Sra.  Post  8vo. 


Puhlications  on  the   Christian  Evidences. 


Price. 

Tlie  Analogy  of  Religion.  s.  a. 

Dialogues  founded  upon  Butler's  "Analorryof  Relif^on." 
By  the  Rev.  H.  R.  Hackin,  D.D.,  Head  Master  of  Repton 
School.    PostSvo Cloth  boards    3    0 

"Miracles." 

By  the  Eev.  E.  A.  Litton,  M.A.,  Examining  Chaplain  of 

the  Bishop  of  Durham.     Crown  8vo C'lotli  boards    1     6 

Moral  Difficulties  connected  with  the  Bible. 

Being  the  Boyle  Lectures  for  1871,  preached  in  Her 
Majesty's  Chapel  at  Whiteha'.l.  By  the  Van.  Archdeacon 
Hessey,  D.C.L.,  Preacher  to  the  Hon.  Society  of  Gray's 
Inn,  &c.     First  Series.     Post  8vo Cloth  boards    1     6 

Moral  Difficulties  connected  with  the  Bible. 

Being  the  Boyle  Lectures  for  1872,  preached  in  Her 
Majesty's  Chapel  at  Whitehall.  By  the  Ven.  Archdeacon 
Hessey,  D.C.L.  Second  Series.    Post  Svo Clothboards    2    6 

Prayer  and  recent  Difficulties  about  it 

The  Boyle  Lectures  for  1873,  being  the  Third  Series 
of  "Moral  Difficulties  connected  with  the  Bible." 
Preached  in  Her  Majesty's  Chapel  at  Whitehall.     By  the 

Ven.  Archdeacon  Hessey,  D.C.L.    Post  8vo Clothboards    2    6 

The  above  Three  Series  in  a  volume Cloth  boards    ti    0 

Historical  Illustrations  of  the  Old  Testament. 

By  the  Rev.  G.  Rawlinson,  M.A.,  Camden  Professor  of 
Ancient  History,  Oxford.     Post  Svo Cloth  boards    1     6 

Can  we  Believe  in  Miracles? 

By  G.   Warington,  B.A.,  of    Caius  College,  Cambridge. 

Post  Svo Clothboards    1     6 

The   Moral   Teaching  of  the  New    Testament 

viewed  as  Evidential  to  its  Historical  Truth.    Bv  the 

Rev.  C.  A.  Row,  M.A.     Post  Svo Clothboards    1     G 

Scripture  Doctrine  of  Creation. 

By  the  Rev.  T.  R.  Birks,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy 

at  Cambridge.     Post  Svo Clothboards    1     6 

Thoughts  on  the  First  Principles  of  the  Positive 

Philosophy,  considered  in  Relation  to  the  Human 
Mind.  By  the  late  Benjamin  Shaw,  M.A.,  late  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Camb.     Post  Svo Limp  cloth    0     8 


Puhlicatlons  on  the  Glvristian  Evidences, 


Prico. 

Thoughts  on  the  Bible.  s.  d. 

By  the  late  Rev.  W.  Gresley,  M.A.,  Prebendary  of  Lichfield. 

Post  8vo '...Cloth  hoards     1     G 

The  Reasonableness  of  Prayer. 

By  the  Rev.  p.  Onslow,  M.A.    Post  8vo Limp  doth    0    8 

Paley's  Euidences  of  Christianity. 

A  New  Edition,  with  Notes,  Appendix,  and  Preface.      By 

the  Bev.  E.  A.  Litton,  M.A.    Post  8vo Clothloards    4    0 

Paley's  Natural  Theology. 

Eevised  to  harmonize  with  Modern  Science.  By  Mr.  F.  le 
Gros  Clark,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Koyal  College  of 
Surgeons  of  England,  &c.      Post  Svo Cloth  boards    4    0 


Paley's  Horce  Paulines. 

A  new  Edition,  with  Nott 

J.  S.  Howson,  D.D„  Dean  of  Chester.  Post  Svo.  CloVc  hoar 


A  new  Edition,  with  Notes,  Appendix,  and  Preface.     By 

-    -         -  -    -  -  -  .^l^        o         Q 


The   Story   of  Creation   as   told  by  Theology 

AND  Science.    By  the  Rev.  T.  S.  Ackland,  M.A.    Post  8vo. 

Cloth  hoards    1     6 

Man's  Accountableness  for  his  Religious  Belief. 

A  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Hall  of  Science,  on  Tuesday, 
April  2nd,  1872.  By  the  Rev.  Daniel  Moore.  M.A.,  Holy 
Trinity,  Paddington.     Post8vo  Paper  cover    0    3 

The  Theory  of  Prayer;  with  Special  Reference 

TO  Modern  Thought.  By  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Zarslake, 
M.A.,  Assistant  Preacher  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  Vicar  of 
Westcott,  Dorking,  late  Fellow  and  Tutor  at  INIerton 
College,  Oxford.     Post  8vo Limp  cloth    1     0 

When  was  the  Pentateuch  Written  ? 

By  George  "Warington,  B.A.,  author  of  "Can  we  Believe 

in  Miracles  ?"  &c.     Post  Svo Clolhhoards    1    6 


The  Credibility  of  Mysteries. 

A  Lecture  delivered  at  St.  George's  Hall,  Langham  Place. 

By  the  Rev.  Daniel  Moore,  M.A.   Post  Svo Papa- cover    0    3 


4       Publications  on  the  GJiristian  Evidences. 

Price;, 

Analogy   of  Religion,    Natural  and  Revealed,   «•  <^- 

TO  THE  Constitution  and  Course  of  Nature  :  to  which 
are  added,  Two  Brief  Dissertations.  By  Bishop  Butler. 
New  Edition.    PostSvo Cloihhoards    2    6 

Christian  Evidences  : 

intended  chiefly  for  the  yoiing.  By  the  Most  Reverend 
Eichard  Whately,  D.D.  12rao Paper  cover    0    4 

The  Efficacy  of  Prayer. 

By  the  Rev.  "W.  H.  Karslake,  M.A.,  Assistant  Preacher 

at  Lincoln's  Inn,  &c.  kc.     Post  8vo Limp  cloth    0    6 

Science  and  the  Bible  :  a  Lecture  by  the  Right 

Hev.Bish.OTp'PerrYy'D.'D.lSmo.  Paper coverid.,orLimpclotk    0    6 

The  Bible ;  Its  Evidences,  Characteristics,  and 

Effects.  A  Lecture  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Perry,  D.D. 
18mo Paper  cover    0    i 

A   Lecture  on   the   Bible.      By  the  Very  Rev. 

E.  M.  Goulburn,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Norwich.  18mo.  Paper  cover   0    2 


%*  For  List  0/  TRACTS  on  the  Christian  Evidences,  see  the  Socieiifs 
Catalogue  B. 


DEPOSITORIES: 

NORTHUMBERLAND  AVENUE.  CHARING  CROSS,  S.W. 

4,  ROYAL  EXCHANGE,  E.G.  ;    48,  PICCADILLY,  W. 

London. 


■\*"-N 


